Investigations on the Active Catalyst in Pd Catalyzed Organic Reactions

Cross coupling and C-H functionalization reactions are valuable tools in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, natural products, fine chemicals, and electronics. Molecular precatalysts are frequently used in both reactions but because the reactions use conditions like those employed in intentional preparation of nanoparticles, the presence of nanoparticles is highly likely for both systems. In the case of the cross-coupling reaction, nanoparticles have been shown to have catalytic relevance, but C-H functionalization reactions are widely thought to occur by means of a homogenous catalyst. To better understand the state of the active catalyst, a method of homogeneity analysis by centrifuge is proposed. For this centrifuge to isolate nanoparticle involvement as a variable, all other reaction components must be fully soluble. In this report, the cross-coupling system was first optimized for analysis by centrifuge as a validation of the proposed method. The C-H functionalization system, in which the identity of the active catalyst is more ambiguous, was then similarly optimized.