Synthesis of recoverable palladium composite as an efficient catalyst for the reduction of nitroarene compounds and Suzuki cross-coupling reactions using sepiolite clay and magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4@sepiolite-Pd2+)

Clays are nontoxic, inexpensive, abundant, and have great potential as catalytic carriers because of their special structure, surface, and suitability for supporting transition metals. In this study, sepiolite was used as a ligand for the heterogenization of palladium chloride on Fe₃O₄ nanoparticle surface as a novel, high temperature stable, and recoverable green catalyst (Fe₃O₄@sepiolite-Pd²⁺). The catalytic activity of this system was tested in the reduction of nitroarene compounds and the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction. The catalyst structure was characterized using spectroscopic data and magnetic and thermal techniques such as Fourier transform infrared, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction, vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and thermogravimetric analysis.