Biopolymer-metal complex wool–Pd as a highly active heterogeneous catalyst for Heck reaction in aqueous media

Heterogeneous palladium catalysts, a biopolymer complex wool–Pd, have been applied in water-mediated coupling reactions of aryl bromides without assistance of any phosphine ligands. The catalyst was characterized by XPS, ICP. The results showed that aryl bromides could carry out the coupling reaction with a variety of alkenes at 80 °C, in aqueous media under atmospheric condition. More importantly, the cheap catalyst is stable, which shows negligible metal leaching, and retain good activity for at least ten successive runs without any additional activation treatment. This approach would be very useful from a practical viewpoint.