Colloidal Palladium Nanoparticles for Selective Hydrogenation of Styrene Derivatives with Reactive Functional Groups

This article presents the catalysis investigation of octanethiolate-capped palladium nanoparticles (C8 PdNP) and phenylethanethiolate-capped palladium nanoparticles (PhC2 PdNP) for chemoselective catalytic hydrogenation reactions of styrene derivatives in the presence of other reducible functionalities. The results show that the C8 PdNP is highly active under mild reaction conditions (room temperature and atmospheric pressure) and selective for hydrogenating monosubstituted alkene groups without reducing other reactive functional groups such as nitro, halo, carbonyls, and so forth. In comparison, the noncovalent interactions between surface phenyl ligands and aromatic substrates are found to hinder the hydrogenation activity of PhC2 PdNP.