LAUSR

Abstract Immobilized palladium nanoparticles on a cyclodextrin-polyurethane nanosponge (Pd-CD-PU-NS) were found to be an efficient heterogeneous catalyst in the cyanation reaction of aryl halides in aqueous media. This catalyst system is containing palladium nanoparticles with a size of ∼7 nm. Moreover, the CD-PU-NS support formed microsphere-shaped structures with a size of ∼100–200 nm. The TEM images show that Pd nanoparticles were formed in near spherical shape morphology and were immobilized in the structure of the CD-PU-NS support. Under our optimized reaction conditions, aryl cyanides were obtained in high yields in the presence of the Pd-CD-PU-NS catalyst. Our results demonstrated that the Pd-CD-PU-NS catalyst is highly effective in the cyanation reaction in aqueous media. Furthermore, the catalyst could be simply extracted from the reaction mixture, providing an efficient methodology for the synthesis of aryl cyanides. The Pd-CD-PU-NS catalyst could be recycled four times with almost consistent catalytic efficiency.