Nanosized-Ni Doped on Montmorillonite Catalysed Suzuki–Miyaura Coupling Reactions

This work reports the synthesis and characterization of Nanosized-Ni doped montmorillonite heterocatalyst and its application for Suzuki Miyaura cross coupling of aryl iodides with aryl boronic acids. The catalyst is highly selective and did not give any other byproducts. The reaction was complete within 24 h with > 98% yield. Nickel was uniformly dispersed on the catalyst with approximately 4.0 ± 2 nm clusters of Ni. The solvent, base, catalyst loading, and catalyst precursors were varied to obtain optimum reaction conditions for highest yield. The catalyst was recovered and reused for reactions demonstrating excellent recyclability with high yield. Ni doped montmorillonite catalyst is very effective for Suzuki Miyaura cross coupling reactions and can be used to replace expensive Pd-based catalysts with earth abundant and inexpensive Ni-based catalysts.