Recent Developments in Nanostructured Palladium and Other Metal Catalysts for Organic Transformation

Nanocatalysis is an emerging field of research and is applicable to nearly all kinds of catalytic organic conversions. Nanotechnology is playing an important role in both industrial applications and academic research. The catalytic activities become pronounced as the size of the catalyst reduces and the surface area-to-volume ratio increases which ultimately enhance the activity and selectivity of nanocatalysts. Similarly, the morphology of the particles also has a great impact on the activity and selectivity of nanocatalysts. Moreover, the electronic properties and geometric structure of nanocatalysts can be affected by polar and nonpolar solvents. Various forms of nanocatalysts have been reported including supported nanocatalysts, Schiff-based nanocatalysts, graphene-based nanocatalysts, thin-film nanocatalysts, mixed metal oxide nanocatalysts, magnetic nanocatalysts, and core-shell nanocatalysts. Among a variety of different rare earth and transition metals, palladium-based nanocatalysts have been extensively studied both in academia and in the industry because of their applications such as in carbon-carbon cross-coupling reactions, carbon-carbon homocoupling reactions, carbon-heteroatom cross-coupling reactions, and C-H activation, hydrogenation, esterification, oxidation, and reduction. The current review highlights the recent developments in the synthesis of palladium and some other metal nanocatalysts and their potential applications in various organic reactions.