Novel cyclodextrin-modified h-BN@Pd(II) nanomaterial: An efficient and recoverable catalyst for ligand-free C-C cross-coupling reactions in water

An environmentally friendly palladium(II) catalyst supported on cyclodextrin-modified h-BN was successfully prepared. The catalyst was characterized by FT-IR, SEM, TG, XRD and XPS, and the loading level of Pd in h-BN@β-CD@Pd(II) was measured to be 0.088 mmol g−1 by ICP. It exhibits excellent catalytic activity for the Suzuki and Heck reactions in water, and can be easily separated and consecutively reused for at least nine times. In addition, a series of pharmacologically interesting products were successfully synthesized using this catalyst to demonstrate its potential applications in pharmaceutical industries. Above all, this work opens up an interesting and attractive avenue for the use of cyclodextrin-functionalized h-BN as an efficient support for hydrophilic heterogeneous catalysts.