Palladium Nanoparticles‐Catalyzed Synthesis of Indanone Derivatives via Intramolecular Reductive Heck Reaction

Abstract An efficient protocol for the straightforward, single‐step synthesis of 3‐aryl‐1‐indanones from 2′‐iodochalcone via reductive Heck reaction using phosphine free, stable and reusable binaphthyl stabilized palladium nanoparticle (Pd‐BNP) as a catalyst has been described. An immense array of substrate scope with electron‐rich and deficient 2′‐iodochalcones have been synthesized. Further derivatization of product indanones have been achieved successfully. The heterogeneous nature of the Pd‐BNP has been validated by centrifugation test and mercury poisoning experiment. Pd‐BNP has been successfully recycled up to 5 cycles without any significant loss in reaction yield and particle size of nanoparticles, confirmed by TEM analysis. magnified image