Activated charcoal supported copper nanoparticles: A readily available and inexpensive heterogeneous catalyst for the N-arylation of primary amides and lactams with aryl iodides

Abstract A novel heterogeneous copper catalyst has been developed by supporting copper nanoparticles on activated charcoal via in situ reducing copper(II) with aqueous hydrazine as reductant. The characterization of Cu/C catalyst showed that the Cu0 nano-particles were formed on the surface of charcoal. This catalyst displayed good catalytic activities toward the N-arylation of primary amides and lactams with aryl iodides.