An effective and environment-friendly system for Cu NPs@RGO-catalyzed C–C homocoupling of aryl halides or arylboronic acids in ionic liquids under microwave irradiation

As an outstanding mesh catalyst support, reduced graphene oxide (RGO) has attracted enormous attention in recent years. Cu nanoparticles-RGO (Cu NPs@RGO) as a green catalyst was prepared through a green reduction method by ascorbic acid in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone. The structure of prepared Cu NPs@RGO was characterized. The catalytic activity of Cu NPs@RGO was estimated. A green and efficient method for synthesizing symmetrical biaryl compounds was developed by Cu NPs@RGO-catalyzed Ullmann homocoupling of aryl halides or arylboronic acids in ionic liquids under microwave (MW) irradiation. The catalytic system could be recycled five times with slight loss of activity. Through this method, nine kinds of biaryls were prepared by homocoupling reaction of the corresponding aryl iodides, aryl bromides, aryl chlorides and aryl boronic acids in moderate to good yields.