A magnetically recoverable biopolymer-based nanocatalyst was prepared through the covalent immobilization of a chitosan bound 2-hydroxynaphthaldehyde Pd complex on the surface of superparamagnetic nanoparticles. The nanocatalyst was characterized by FTIR, X-ray powder difraction and scanning electron microscopy, revealing an average particle size of 70 nm. The catalyst shows high thermostability by thermogravimetric analysis. Estimated Pd loading by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission analysis was found to be 0.348 mmol g−1. The nanocatalyst exhibits excellent catalytic performance in Suzuki couplings of various aryl halides with phenylboronic acid, and Heck reactions of iodo- and bromoarenes with butylacrylate. The catalyst can be easily separated from the reaction mixture with an external magnet and reused consecutively four times without significant loss in activity.
