Catalytic activity of 2-phenyl pyridine palladacycle and its structural studies using DFT calculations

Abstract

2-phenyl pyridine palladacycle [Pd (κ2 -N, C-C11H8N) (O3SC7H7)-{P (C6H5)3}] (1) was tested for the catalytic activity in the vinylation of 3-Bromo-benzophenone to give 3-Vinyl benzophenone, a precursor for the synthesis of Ketoprofen an anti-inflammatory drug. The effect of various reaction parameters such as temperature, palladacycle loading, ethylene pressure and material balance for the vinylation reaction was studied. The palladacyle (1) exhibited excellent catalytic activity with a TOF of 4842 h-1 in the vinylation reaction. The structural properties of palladacycle (1) were studied by employing the B3LYP density functional theory with SDD and 6-311++G (d, p) basis sets at the Gaussian 09 package of programs. The computed density functional theory (DFT) structural parameters (bond lengths and bond angles) of the optimized geometry using the B3LYP/6-311G basis set were found to compare favourably with those of the X-ray crystal structure.