Carbon coated copper nanostructures as a green and ligand free nanocatalyst for Suzuki cross-coupling reaction

Abstract In this work, carbon coated copper nanoparticles and nanowires were synthesized as a ligand free nanocatalyst that naturally contains ppm levels of Pd with no post-modification via a two-steps reduction-hydrothermal process. Transmittance electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), and Raman spectroscopy were employed for the characterization of the nano-catalyst. The utilization of the synthesized Cu/C nano-catalyst in Suzuki cross coupling reaction showed a high performance in the synthesis of various biaryls in water. Moreover, this catalyst reused successfully with no significant yield decrease even after four subsequently runs.