Acceleration of the rate of the Heck reaction through UV- and visible-light-induced palladium(II) reduction

Margaret Anne Fredricks, Markus Drees, Klaus Köhler

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Scopus citations

Abstract

Irradiation with light (UV and visible) increases the rate of the Heck reaction using homogeneous (palladium(II) acetate) and heterogeneous (Pd/Al2O3 and Pd/TiO2) catalysts. The rate of the coupling of bromobenzene, chlorobenzene, and 4-chloroacetophenone with styrene was increased under light irradiation at temperatures between 90 and 160°C. Detailed investigations showed that light irradiation accelerates the reduction of the PdII precursor, as confirmed by 31PNMR spectroscopy, in which the insitu reduction of [Pd(OAc)2(PPh3)2] to [Pd(PPh3)n] (n=2-4) in the presence of PPh3 took only minutes under visible light irradiation and several hours in the dark. The role of light is, however, complex since it also influences other PdII reduction steps in conjunction with catalyst deactivation (Pdblack formation). 31PNMR spectroscopy showed the same active species, anionic palladium halide complexes, in both irradiated and unirradiated reactions. UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy of Pd(OAc)2 and DFT calculations, theoretical UV/Vis spectra, and orbital calculations of [PdI4]2-, [PdBr4]2-, and [PdCl4]2-, showed that ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) is responsible for the accelerated reduction of PdII to Pd0 under light irradiation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1467-1476
Number of pages10
JournalChemCatChem
Volume2
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Nov 2010

Keywords

  • C-C coupling
  • Density functional calculations
  • Heck reaction
  • Palladium
  • Photochemistry

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Acceleration of the rate of the Heck reaction through UV- and visible-light-induced palladium(II) reduction'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this