An Effect of Microwave Irradiation on Pd/SiC Catalyst for Prolonging the Catalytic Life

Novel solid-supported catalysts derived from palladium supported on silicon carbide were prepared. The resulting catalysts produced high methyl cinnamate yields (>80%) for more than 20 cycles of the Heck reaction of iodobenzene and methyl acrylate. The use of microwave heating during catalyst preparation was found to significantly improve the catalytic activity compared with conventional heating. This result is interpreted as being due to an accelerated decomposition of the palladium species resulting in improved palladium-nanoparticle dispersion under microwave heating.