Transition Metal Exchanged Hydroxyapatite/Fluorapatite Catalysts for C−C and C−N Bond Forming Reactions

Transition metal (Cu, Zn, Rh, Pd) exchanged hydroxyapatite (HAP)/fluorapatite (FAP) materials have been synthesized by ion‐exchange method resulting in incorporation of the metal ions in the HAP/FAP structure. C−C and C−N bond forming reactions are important in synthetic organic chemistry as these organic transformations are very critical. Transition metal exchanged FAP provides an efficient catalytic system for N‐arylation of haloarenes and Suzuki and Heck coupling of haloarenes. By designing such catalytic materials, our group has developed synthetic methods which allow higher product yields and easy separation with the use of a small amount of catalyst in a shorter reaction time. This account addresses the work carried out in last two decades in the area of C−C and C−N bond forming reactions using transition metal exchanged fluorapatite. Transition‐metal exchanged hydroxyapatite and fluorapatite have been developed to carry out critical C−C and C−N bond forming reactions. N‐arylation, Suzuki and Heck coupling reactions of haloarenes was efficiently catalyzed by CuFAP and PdFAP catalysts with good reusability and recovery. The catalysts developed are versatile and can be used for wide variety of coupling reactions.