Remarkably facile Heck and Suzuki reactions in water using a simple cationic surfactant and ligand-free palladium catalysts

A facile surfactant mediated Heck and Suzuki coupling procedure in water has been developed using ligand-free Pd-catalysts. The procedure which involves nanometric palladium colloids, is operationally simple, environmentally benign and synthetically as efficient as conventional procedures using organic solvents.