A novel magnetically recoverable organic hydride compound was successfully constructed by using silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles as a support. An as-prepared magnetic organic hydride compound, BNAH (1-benzyl-1,4-dihydronicotinamide), showed efficient activity in the catalytic reduction of α,β-epoxy ketones. After reaction, the magnetic nanoparticle-supported BNAH can be separated by simple magnetic separation which made the separation of the product easier.

Ligand free Pd-catalyzed decarboxylative cross-coupling of potassium oxalate monoester and derivatives with aryl iodides and bromides is described. Functionalized aromatic esters can be efficiently synthesized via this method with only 1.0 mol % Pd(OAc)2 catalyst without any phosphine ligand. This method illustrates an inexpensive and operationally simple method for the preparation of aromatic esters and acids, which is especially beneficial for a large scale synthesis.

In this work, an efficient CuSO4-catalyzed S-arylation of thiols with aryl and heteroaryl boronic acids at room temperature is established. This catalytic system can tolerate a wide variety of thiols and arylboronic acids in the presence of only 5 mol % of CuSO4 as the catalyst and inexpensive 1,10-phen·H2O as the ligand. Moreover, this catalytic system used environment-friendly solvent (EtOH) and oxidant (oxygen).

CuI-nanoparticles-catalyzed selective synthesis of phenols, anilines, and thiophenols from aryl halides was developed in the absence of both ligands and organic solvents. Anilines were formed selectively with ammonia competing with hydroxylation and thiophenols were generated selectively with sulfur powder after subsequent reduction competing with hydroxylation and amination.