Electrochemical Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling using peptide bolaamphiphile hydrogel-supported Pd NPs as heterogeneous electrocatalyst

Abstract

Electrochemical cross-coupling has arisen as one of the promising greener approaches for the construction of C–C bonds. The substitution of general reagents with electric current enables atom- and cost-effective, environmentally friendly and inherently safe accessibility to novel synthetic protocols. Site selective C–C bond formation is one of the crucial steps in organo-catalysis. Primarily, aryl–aryl bond formation has high importance for the formulation of natural products, drugs, and organic materials. Herein, this work demonstrates a method for the construction of C–C bonds through palladium nanoparticles embedded peptide bolaamphiphile hydrogel (i.e. Pd@hydrogel), which was modified on carbon paper-based electrode material as a heterogeneous electrocatalyst. The developed electrochemical Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reaction utilizes a carbon paper as anode and cathode in an undivided cell setup with a constant current of 3 mA. Leveraging the power of electrochemical reactions, this approach offers an eco-friendly and synthetic practical protocol for forging C(sp²)–C(sp²) bonds in moderate to excellent chemical yields under green conditions. In addition, this approach does not require harmful and hazardous solvents and challenging work-up. Moreover, the electrode exhibits exceptional stability and reusability and was found to be efficient for up to five consecutive cycles. The Pd@hydrogel was characterized by UV-vis, CD, FT-IR, XRD, XPS, FE-SEM, TEM, and MP-AES analyses.