Transfer Hydrogenation(TH) of Carbonyl Compounds Catalytically Promoted by Pd₁₇Se₁₅ Nanoparticles and PdP₂ Nanoflowers

Nanosized Pd17Se15 and PdP2 were synthesized at moderate temperature (using less toxic TOPO in case of PdP2) and explored for the first time to catalyze transfer hydrogenation (TH) of aldehydes / ketones using 2-propanol as a source of hydrogen. The optimum catalyst loading was equivalent to 1.0 mol% of Pd. The round shaped Pd17Se15 NPs (15 to 30 nm), resulted on reacting (3-(phenylseleno)propylamine) with Na2PdCl4 in a mixture (1 : 1) of olylamine and 1-octadecene at 250 degrees C for 50 min. Nanoflowers of PdP2 (25 to 55 nm) were obtained by reacting Na2PdCl4 with trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) in a similar solvent mixture at 350 degrees C for 60 min. Both the NPs were found air insensitive and authenticated with powder X-ray diffraction, HR-TEM, SEM, SEM-EDX and XPS. The conversion was found more efficient for aldehydes in comparison to that of ketones. In comparison to most of the other Pd based nano-phases, reported earlier, the present NPs are somewhat better activators for TH.