Anomalous Efficacy of Bimetallic Au/Pd Nanoclusters in C-Cl Bond Activation and Formal Metathesis-type C-B Bond Activation at Room Temperature

Au/Pd alloy nanoclusters stabilized by poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) catalyze two different reactions of phenylboronic acid with 4-chlorobenzoic acid at room temperature in a single reaction cycle, cross coupling and metathesis-type homocoupling that is normally inaccessible through conventional catalysis.