Heterogeneous, metal, single-site catalysts often exhibit higher catalytic performance than other catalysts because of their maximized atom efficiency of 100 %. Reported herein is a precoordination/solvothermal polymerization strategy to fabricate a stable mononuclear Pd-metalized porous organic polymer catalyst (Pd@POP). Pd@POP was easy to use in regioselective organic reactions because the internal structure of this Pd@POP can be easily modified. The catalyst was used to solve the intractable regioselectivity problems of Heck reactions. Pd@POP-9 can efficiently activate the ends of olefins, thereby leading to high selectivity for substitution at the external position. To understand the reason underlying the high selectivity and activity of the catalyst, the systemic characterization of Pd@POP-9 and density-functional theory calculations were conducted. This Heck reaction is the first to be catalyzed by a recyclable mononuclear metal catalyst with unprecedented catalytic activity and regioselectivity.
Keywords: Heck reaction; N-heterocyclic carbenes; heterogeneous catalysis; palladium; regioselectivity.
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