Facile deposition of Pd nanoparticles on carbon nanotube microparticles and their catalytic activity for Suzuki coupling reactions

Pd nanoparticles were successfully deposited on carbon nanotube (CNT) microparticles by reduction of Na-2PdCl4 using ethylene glycol as both solvent and reducing agent in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. The synthesized Pd/CNT particles showed excellent catalytic activity and selectivity for Suzuki cross-coupling reactions. The catalytic activity did not deteriorate, even after repeated applications, and was supposed to result from the small size, narrow size distribution, and high surface area of Pd nanoparticles. The Pd/CNT particles catalyst could be separated and recovered from reaction solutions easily by simple filtration.