Propylene carbonate stabilized nanostructured palladium clusters as catalysts in Heck reactions

Nanostructured Pd clusters, prepared either electrochemically using a sacrificial Pd anode or by thermolysis of Pd(O2CMe)2, are stable in propylene carbonate even at 140–155 °C; such colloidal solutions catalyse Heck reactions in the absence of phosphine ligands.