Direct Mechanocatalysis: Palladium as Milling Media and Catalyst in the Mechanochemical Suzuki Polymerization

Abstract

The milling ball is the catalyst. We introducea palladium-catalyzed reaction inside a ball mill, whichmakes catalyst powders, ligands, and solvents obsolete. Wepresent a facile and highly sustainable synthesis concept forpalladium-catalyzed C@C coupling reactions, exemplarilyshowcased for the Suzuki polymerization of 4-bromo or 4-iodophenylboronic acid giving poly(para-phenylene). Surprisingly,we observe one of the highest degrees of polymerization(199) reported so far