Light-Enhanced Suzuki–Miyaura Crosscoupling Reaction by Polyoxopalladates Clusters: Doping Effect

Abstract

Atomic precise clusters play a pivotal role in elucidating catalytic mechanisms. Emerging well-defined noble metal oxygen clusters, such as polyoxopalladates (POPs), present promising prospects as ideal model catalysts for comprehensively understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying noble metal-based catalysis. Herein, modified SBA-15 serves as a substrate for loading three distinct POP clusters, thus forming heterogeneous catalysts for the Suzuki–Miyaura crosscoupling reaction. It is revealed that the copper-doped cluster shows better performance than the Fe- and Co-doped clusters due to the relatively high electronegativity of copper. Interestingly, all catalysts demonstrate enhanced performance under light illumination. density functional theory calculation suggests that an electron transfer from the bridging ligands to the Pd atoms takes place under illumination, which facilitates the reactions.