Scope and limitation of activated carbons in aqueous organometallic catalysis

The effect of activated carbons has been studied in the palladium-catalyzed cleavage reaction of allylalkylcarbonate under aqueous biphasic conditions. A number of parameters were investigated, such as the type of carbon, the structure of the water-soluble ligand, the water conditions, and the metal complex loading. It was found that the intrinsic properties of carbons had a strong influence on the reaction rates. The best performances were obtained with the AC-WV carbon possessing the largest part of mesopores and lowest content of oxygen-surface groups. The results were rationalized by considering that AC-WV acted as a mass-transfer promoter increasing the interfacial area and collisions between the reactive species in the pore volume. The hypothesis of a confinement effect of the catalyst and reactants within the pores via adsorption–desorption processes was supported by isothermal studies and 31P{1H} NMR investigations.