Highly efficient catalytic dechlorination of organic chlorides with a silica-supported Pd nanoparticle catalyst

A silica-supported Pd nanoparticle catalyst was prepared by refluxing a Pd(II) precursor in alkaline 2-propanol; it consisted of metallic Pd nanoparticles (ca. 2-8 nm) dispersed in the silica-gel pores. This catalyst exhibited much more efficient dechlorination of p-chloroanisole and 1,1-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-2,2-dichloroethylene (DDE) in an alkaline 2-propanol/methanol (99:1 v/v) solution than a conventional Pd/C catalyst.