Development of the reaction conditions of a Suzuki-Miyaura cross coupling reaction catalysed by Ag-Pd Alloy Nanoparticle photocatalyst

To increase product yield, percentage conversion, and catalyst recovery ease, the reaction parameters required for a successful Suzuki Miyaura cross-coupling process were optimized. To form new carbon-carbon bonds, 3- Indotoluene and Phenylboronic acid were cross-coupled using synthesized Ag-Pd Alloy Nanoparticle photocatalysts. Reaction conditions namely reaction base, solvent, wavelength, light intensity and reaction atmosphere were individually optimized by comparative analysis to find out the best set of parameters that will result in a cross-coupling product with high yield and high percentage conversion. Mix solvent of Dimethylformamide and water in the ratio of 3:1 was determined as the best solvent for the cross-coupling carried out in this research as a percentage conversion of 96% was achieved. Potassium carbonate (K2CO3) was the reaction base that gave better reaction yield and percentage conversion than the other bases that were tested in this research, also Argon as the reaction atmosphere gave better results than another reaction environment, while light intensity and light sources with shorter wavelength (less than 500nm) are favorable as the gave better percentage conversion, due to their ability in activating the Alloy Nano-particle Photo-catalysts that was used in this research. Findings from this research work suggest that for an effective and efficient Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction, K2CO3, Dimethylformamide and water in the ratio of 3:1, argon, and a light source with high intensity and shorter wavelength are the appropriate reaction conditions.