Stable palladium nanoparticles catalyzed synthesis of benzonitriles using K4[Fe(CN)6]

A stable palladium nanocatalyst is used in the synthesis of benzonitriles by cyanation of aryl iodides. A nontoxic and economic potassium hexacyanoferrate was used as a safe cyanide source. A variety of benzonitriles are efficiently synthesized using the stable nanocatalyst. The catalyst was quantitatively recovered and reused without any apparent loss in the catalytic activity.