New biomaterials for Ni biosorption turned into catalysts for Suzuki-Miyaura cross coupling of aryl iodides in green conditions

In parallel with increasing Ni production and utilisation, Ni pollution in the soil-water continuum has become an alarming and global problem. Solutions for removing Ni from industrial effluents have been widely investigated and biosorption has emerged as an efficient, cost-effective, scalable and sustainable alternative for water treatment. However, the biosorption capacity is limited by the chemical composition of the biomaterial and the Ni-enriched biomaterials are rarely valorised. In this work, the biosorption capacity of three abundant biomaterials with different chemical properties - water hyacinth, coffee grounds and pinecones - was studied before and after functionalization, and reached a maximum biosorption capacity of 51 mg g(-1) of Ni(ii). A bioinspired functionalization approach was investigated introducing carboxylate moieties and was conducted in green conditions. The Ni-enriched biomaterials were valorised by transformation into catalysts, which were characterised by MP-AES and XRPD. Their characterisation revealed a structure similar to nickel formate, and hence the Eco-Ni(HCOO)(2) catalysts were tested in Suzuki-Miyaura reactions. Several aryl iodides were successfully cross-coupled to phenylboronic acids using Eco-Ni(HCOO)(2) without any ligand, a mild and green base in a mixture of green solvents.

Automated summary

With the increasing production and utilization of nickel, nickel pollution in the soil-water continuum has become a global problem. This study investigated the biosorption capacity of three biomaterials and transformed the nickel-enriched biomaterials into catalysts, demonstrating resource valorization through functionalization.