Plant leaves as natural green scaffolds for palladium catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reactions

Abstract

This work presents a novel approach of using natural plant leaf surfaces having intricate hierarchical structures as scaffolds for Pd nanoparticles and demonstrated it as a Green dip catalyst for Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reactions in water. The influence of the topographical texture of the plant leaves on the deposition and catalytic properties of Pd nanoparticles are presented and discussed. The catalytic activity can be correlated to the surface texture of the leaves, wherein it has been found that the micro/nanostructures present on the surface strongly influence the assembly and entrapment of the nanoparticles, and thereby control aggregation and leaching of the catalysts. This approach can provide insights for the future design and fabrication of bioinspired supports for catalysis, based on replication of leaf surfaces.