Biomass waste rice husk derived silica supported palladium nanoparticles: an efficient catalyst for Suzuki–Miyaura and Heck–Mizoroki cross-coupling reactions

Abstract

Here, we report an inexpensive, versatile, and environmentally benign biomass waste rice husk derived amorphous silica-supported palladium (PdNPs/RH-SiO2) nano-catalyst for Suzuki–Miyaura and Heck–Mizoroki cross-coupling reactions. The proposed catalyst was prepared in two steps. In the first step, amorphous SiO2 obtained by calcination of rice husk and the following deposition of palladium nanoparticles by using the chemical reduction method in the second step. The physico-chemical properties of the catalysts were investigated by N2 adsorption–desorption, XRD, XPS, 29Si CP-MAS NMR, and TEM analysis. The palladium content in the catalysts has been determined by ICP-OES analysis. The 1% PdNPs/RH-SiO2 exhibited excellent catalytic performance for Suzuki–Miyaura and Heck–Mizoroki C–C cross-coupling reactions to produce biaryl and stilbene compounds with >99% selectivity and excellent TON values (529 and 524). Furthermore, the catalyst is repeatedly used for four consecutive cycles without a significant drop in the yield.