Pd/Cu-free Heck and Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction by Co nanoparticles immobilized on magnetic chitosan as reusable catalyst

Abstract

Chitosan (CS) is a porous, self-standing, nanofibrillar microsphere that can be used as a metal carrier. Amino groups on CS enable to modulate cobalt coordination using a safe organic ligand (methyl salicylate). This catalyst efficiently promotes Heck cross-coupling of a large library of functional substrates under mild and sustainable conditions (polyethylene glycol as solvent at 80 °C in a short time (1 h)). The cobalt complex was also used as a heterogeneous, efficient, inexpensive, and green catalyst for Sonogashira cross-coupling reactions. The reactions of various aryl halides and phenylacetylene provided the corresponding products in moderate to good yields. More importantly, this phosphine, copper, and palladium-free catalyst was stable under the reaction conditions and could be easily reused using an external magnet for at least five successive runs without a discernible decrease in its catalytic activity.