Palladium-catalyzed Suzuki coupling reactions are regarded as one of the most effective methods for making C–C bonds; however, a green synthesis to substitute the use of abundant organic solvents has been a challenging problem. Herein, two commercial hydrophilic MgOs with different sizes were selected to support the highly dispersed Pd nanoparticles (NPs) due to the strong host–guest interactions and good hydrophilicity. When (Pd/MgO)nano was applied to catalyze the Suzuki–Miyaura reaction in aqueous solution, the (Pd/MgO)nano exhibited much better catalytic performance than (Pd/MgO)bulk. Particularly, (Pd/MgO)nano also exhibited significantly higher catalytic performance than the commercial Pd/C catalyst (95 vs 62%) due to its excellent hydrophilicity. Besides, the solvent effects, temperature effects, substrate tolerance, and so forth have been systematically investigated to further demonstrate its catalytic performance. More importantly, (Pd/MgO)nano still retained about 87% of catalytic activity after six successive cycles, indicating its great potential in industrial applications.

The kinetics of condensation reaction of methoxyacetone with 2-methyl-6-ethyl aniline catalyzed by NKC-9 cation exchange resin was studied for the first time. The reaction temperature of Schiff base synthesis was determined in the range of 367.15 to 401.15 K by the batch experiments, and influences of reactant molar ratio, temperature, catalyst dosage, and particle size on the ultimate conversion were also studied. The dynamic data were used to be relevant with PH, ER(1), ER(2), and Langmuir Hinshelwood Hougen Watson homogeneity models. Model parameters, including reaction equilibrium constants, activation energy, enthalpy change, entropy change, and rate constants, were solved. The accuracy of the model was validated by means of both experimental proofs and standard deviation between the predicted and experimental data. Finally, a series of characterization tests such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and polarizing microscopy were performed to investigate the structure and properties of NKC-9.