Green synthesis of supported palladium nanoparticles employing pine needles as reducing agent and carrier: New reusable heterogeneous catalyst in the Suzuki coupling reaction

A green method for the synthesis of supported Pd nanoparticles (NPs) using pine needle extract as the reducing agent and the extracted residue of pine needle (RPN) as the carrier is described. The Pd/RPN nanocomposites were characterized using Fourier transform infrared, UV–visible, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The spherical Pd NPs had a mean particle size of 3.25 nm and were evenly distributed on the RPN surface. More importantly, the Pd/RPN nanocomposite, as a heterogeneous catalyst, presented superior catalytic activity for the Suzuki coupling reaction. The yield of the reaction of 4-bromotoluene with phenylboronic acid catalyzed by Pd0.03/RPN reached 98% with low Pd loading (0.1 mmol%) at room temperature for 30 min. In addition, the catalyst could be easily separated by centrifugation and reused at least six times without significant loss of activity.