Novel Palladium-on-Carbon/Diphenyl Sulfide Complex for Chemoselective Hydrogenation: Preparation, Characterization, and Application

A diphenyl sulfide immobilized on palladium‐on‐carbon system, Pd/C[Ph2S], was developed to achieve the highly chemoselective hydrogenation of alkenes, acetylenes, azides, and nitro groups in the presence of aromatic ketones, halides, benzyl esters, and N‐Cbz protective groups. Instrumental analyses of the heterogeneous catalyst demonstrated that diphenyl sulfide was embedded on Pd/C via coordination of its sulfur atom to palladium metal or physical interaction with graphite layers of the activated carbon. The catalyst could be recovered and reused at least five times without any significant loss of the reactivity.