Coconut agro-industrial waste in the production of catalyst containing palladium: The report of a mini-project for teaching of sustainable Suzuki-Miyaura reaction.

A four-week mini-project for teaching is described for an experimental physical chemistry or organic chemistry course. The activities included synthesis of a Pd catalyst, PdCl 2 supported on calcined coconut shell fiber, and its use in the preparation of 4-methylbiphenyl via Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction. The technical skills and concepts that are typically presented in practical chemistry courses were covered, including notions of surface chemistry – development of new catalysts, modern organic synthesis, gas chromatography techniques, separation of mixtures, and stoichiometric calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]