Cellulose-supported N-heterocyclic carbene-palladium catalyst: Synthesis and its applications in the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction

•NHC ligand was introduced onto cellulose backbone to explore an avenue for polysaccharide-based catalysts.•Cellulose-supported NHC-Pd complex can efficiently promote Suzuki coupling reactions.•Catalysts can be recovered by easy filtration and can be used several times. A cellulose-supported N-methylimidazole-palladium catalyst (Cell-NHC-Pd) was synthesized and used for Suzuki cross-coupling reactions between aryl halides and phenylboronic acids to create the corresponding coupling products in good to excellent yields. Moreover, the catalyst is easily recovered using only a few cycles of simple filtration.