Treatment of the imines a-c with palladium(II) acetate in acetic acid yielded the μ-acetate dinuclear complexes 1a-c, which readily reacted with sodium chloride or bromide to provide μ-halide analogues. The reaction of the latter with nitrogen, phosphorus and oxygen donor nucleophiles yielded new imine palladacycles following the cleavage of the Pd2X2 unit. The complexes were fully characterized by microanalysis, 1H, 13C and 31P NMR spectroscopies, as appropriate. The compounds were applied as catalysts in the Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction in aqueous and semi-aqueous media.
Keywords: Suzuki; catalysis; cross coupling; imines; palladacycles.