Surface study of organopalladium molecules on S-terminated GaAs

Organopalladium species ({Pd}) immobilized on an Sterminated GaAs substrate (S/GaAs) effectively catalyzes C-C bond formation in the Mizoroki-Heck reaction with cycle durability. However, the immobilizing mechanism of {Pd} is unknown. In this study, we deposited Pd(OCOCH3)2 on S/GaAs in two different methods, namely dry-physical vapor-deposition and wetchemical deposition, and compared the catalytic activities in the Mizoroki-Heck reaction. Also, S-termination and {Pd}-immobilization on GaAs grains were performed by the wet-chemical method to monitor the change in the surface chemical structure during the preparation process with diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). FT-IR measurements implied that the immobilization of catalytic active {Pd} was related to the OH groups on the S-terminated surface. {Pd}-S/GaAs prepared dryphysically showed poor catalytic activity, because {Pd} was not immobilized under absence of OH groups. (© 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)