Palladium complexes for cross-coupling reactions in aqueous media

It was the goal of this thesis to enable cross-coupling reactions in water. Therefore, a variety of palladium catalysts was synthesized and tested for catalytic activity. Through screening of reaction parameters a suitable catalytic protocol was developed, which allowed to conduct the coupling reactions in pure water without any organic additives. The reactions were carried out under an atmosphere of air at ambient temperature with only low palladium loadings. Performing the catalytic reactions in water enabled isolation of the coupling products by simple filtration in excellent yields and purity. The protocol has furthermore been used for asymmetric allylic alkylation reactions in water applying organometallic enzyme hybrids as catalysts.