Activated nanostructured bimetallic catalysts for C-C coupling reactions: recent progress

Catalysts based on bimetallic nanoparticles have received tremendous scientific and industrial attention and are established as an important class of active catalysts. These catalysts displayed improved catalytic activities compared to their monometallic counterparts for several reactions, which is attributed to their highly modified surface structures (electronic and geometrical) due to the synergic cooperation between the two metals of the bimetallic nanoparticle catalyst. Moreover, such synergic interactions are more prominent in alloy nanoparticle catalysts, where the probability of metal-to-metal interactions is higher in comparison with other systems (such as core-shell nanoparticles). This minireview highlights the recent progress made in the last decade towards the development of activated bimetallic alloy nanoparticle catalysts for C-C coupling reactions, including asymmetric C-C bond coupling reactions. Herein, the influence of the modified electronic structures of the newly formed bimetallic alloy nanoparticle catalysts on their activated catalytic performance is also discussed extensively.