N-heterocyclic carbene-Pd(II) complex based on theophylline supported on Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles: Highly active, durable and magnetically separable catalyst for green Suzuki-Miyaura and Sonogashira-Hagihara coupling reactions

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In this paper, a novel heterogeneous palladium catalyst was synthesized by anchoring N-heterocyclic carbene-Pd(II) complex based on theophylline on magnetic Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles. The synthesized magnetic composite was characterized by fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), vibration sample magnetometry (VSM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm analysis (BET), UV–vis spectroscopy and elemental analysis. Also, loading content of palladium on the catalyst was measured by inductive coupled plasma (ICP) analysis. The synthesized catalyst was used successfully for the Suzuki cross-coupling reactions of various aryl halides (I, Br, Cl) with phenylboronic acids. This reaction was best performed in water as a green solvent in the presence of just 0.37–0.5 mol% of the catalyst at 60 °C. Also, we have reported this recyclable catalytic system as a stable phosphine-free Pd catalyst for the Sonogashira cross-coupling of aryl halides (I, Br, Cl) with terminal aromatic and aliphatic alkynes under solvent-free conditions. All coupling reactions proceeded with good to excellent yields. The catalyst showed good stability and was recovered and reused for eight reaction cycles without a significant loss in its catalytic activity. Also, the leaching of the catalyst has been examined by a hot filtration test and ICP-AES analysis.