The Sonogashira reaction can easily be photocatalysed by supported palladium nanoparticles. We demonstrate that the direct excitation of the PdNPs can catalyze the C-C coupling between different aryl iodides and acetylenes under very mild conditions in short reaction times. The catalyst is air and moisture tolerant and can be supported in a wide range of materials, including inert ones such as nanodiamonds. Study of the action spectrum demonstrates that direct excitation of the PdNP is

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... and for example in the case of Pd@TiO2 visible excitation works well, while UVA (368 nm) is ineffective due to TiO2 shielding of the Pd absorption. The catalyst can be reused a couple of times, but when it loses activity it can be readily reactivated via a simple reductive photochemical strategy.