A water-soluble fullerene-supported PdCl 2 nanocatalyst [C 60 -TEG S /PdCl 2 ] was prepared by coordination of water-soluble fullerene nanoparticles with palladium chloride. In pure water, the catalytic activity of nanocatalyst [C 60 -TEG S /PdCl 2 ] for Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction was investigated under different reaction conditions. The results showed that biphenyl compounds could be synthesized in high yields at room temperature using 0.01 mol% of [C 60 -TEG S /PdCl 2 ] as the catalyst and K 2 CO 3 as the base with the reaction time of 4 h. The catalyst was recycled five times, and the yield clearly did not decrease.

Cobalt-catalyzed carbonylative ring expansion of thietane under ambient CO pressure was developed, affording a variety of thioacetones in moderate to high yields. dual roles of Co 2 (CO) 8 as the precursor of both carbonylation catalyst and Lewis acid was revealed by control experiments and spectroscopic characterization. The carbonylative ring expansion under CO gas-free conditions was demonstrated by using Co 2 (CO) 8 as both CO surrogate and pre-catalyst.