Synthesis, characterization and catalytic activities of palladium(II)-imidazopyridine

The ligand 2-phenylimidazo(1,2-α)pyridine (1) was synthesized by neat reaction 2-aminopyridine and 1-bromo-acetophenone; reaction of 1 with acetonitrile solution of PdCl₂ leads to [Pd(1)Cl₂(CH₃CN)] (2). Refluxing [Pd(1)Cl₂(CH₃CN)] (2) in pyridine leads to [Pd(1)Cl₂(py)] (3).The complexes were characterized by various spectroscopic techniques and the solid state structure of 2 was elucidated by single crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) analyses. SCXRD analyses support the square planar geometry of 2. A series of DFT calculations were also performed to gain further insight into the respective structures of the complexes. From molecular hardness calculation it is observed slightly better reactivity of 2 compared to 3. Molecular Hirshfeld surface analyses support various non-covalent secondary interactions that observed in packing of solid state structure of 2. Complexes 2 and 3 were found to facilitate Suzuki coupling reactions under relatively mild conditions and slightly better yields were obtained in case of 2.