Herein, we report the synthesis of nickel nanoparticles at mild conditions using porous alginate-g-poly (p-styrene sulfonamide-co-acrylamide) as a protecting/stabilizing agent and sodium borohydride as a reducing agent. The porous cross-linked polymeric support was prepared by combining of sol-gel, nanocasting and crosslinking techniques, in which p-styrene sulfonamide monomer (PSSA) and N,N′-methylene-bis (acrylamide) (MBA) cross-linker underwent copolymerization on the surface of sodium alginate in the presence of SiO2 NPs template (Alg-PSSA-co-ACA). The prepared catalyst (Alg-PSSA-co-ACA@Ni) showed high catalytic activity in a one-step synthesis involving the reaction of hydrazides and aryl iodides through isocyanide insertion/cyclization. The superior catalytic activity of Alg-PSSA-co-ACA@Ni is related to the amphiphilic properties, high surface area, high loading of Ni NPs, and its desirable surface properties.
