Surfactant‐Assisted Suzuki–Miyaura Coupling Reaction of Unreactive Chlorobenzene over Hydrotalcite‐Supported Palladium Catalyst

Abstract A hydrotalcite‐supported palladium chloride (PdCl 2 /HT) catalyst has been developed for the Suzuki–Miyaura coupling (SMC) reaction. As‐prepared PdCl 2 /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 PdCl 2 /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 PdCl 2 /HT the most. The X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X‐ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) of bare and surfactant‐treated PdCl 2 /HT catalysts depicted the ligation of the Pd species by TX‐100 influenced the electronic structure of the Pd species, leading to efficient catalysis.