Catalytic activity of recyclable resorcinarene-protected antibacterial Pd nanoparticles in C-C coupling reactions

Novel tetra-methoxy resorcinarene tetra-hydrazide (TMRTH) has been synthesized and used as a reducing agent and a capping agent for the synthesis of water-dispersible stable palladium nano particles (PdNPs). The TMRTH-PdNPs were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and powder X-ray diffraction. The synthesized nanoparticles are polydispersible with a size of 5 +/- 2 nm and were found to be recyclable over five cycles maintaining a catalytic activity in the Suzuki-Miyuara cross-coupling reaction. The nanocatalyst was superior in catalytic performance to conventional palladium catalysts with respect to reaction time, catalyst loading and recyclability. TMRTH-PdNPs show promise for their use in biological applications as they exhibit good antibacterial activity against gram-positive bacteria. (C) 2016, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.