LAUSR

A hydrotalcite-supported palladium chloride (PdCl2/HT) catalyst has been developed for the Suzuki–Miyaura coupling (SMC) reaction. As-prepared PdCl2/HT effectively catalyzed the SMC reaction of bromobenzene under air to afford >99 % biphenyl yields and the catalyst could be reused without any significant loss in catalytic activity. The moderate activity (69 % biphenyl yields) of the PdCl2/HT catalyst for chlorobenzene was improved, resulting in biphenyl yields of up to 96 % using a surfactant as an additive. Among various surfactants employed, Triton X-100 (TX-100) enhanced the catalytic performances of PdCl2/HT the most. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) of bare and surfactant-treated PdCl2/HT catalysts depicted the ligation of the Pd species by TX-100 influenced the electronic structure of the Pd species, leading to efficient catalysis.