In palladium catalysis silver acetate is the standard oxidant and halide scavenger for directed C–H arylation and alkenylation (the Daugulis and Fujiwara–Moritani families of reactions). Unlike silver nitrate or silver carbonate it delivers acetate, the ligand that takes part in the concerted metalation–deprotonation step, while silver(I) removes halide from palladium and re-oxidises palladium(0). It is also used to convert palladium, rhodium and iridium chlorides into their acetates or cationic forms, and to prepare silver N-heterocyclic carbene complexes in the presence of a base.
Silver acetate is the usual silver(I) source for silver-catalysed [3+2] cycloadditions of azomethine ylides with electron-poor alkenes, for decarboxylative and oxidative couplings, for acetoxylation of alkenes and C–H bonds, and for the preparation of silver carboxylates and silver alkynides. Because it dissolves to about 1% in water it is convenient wherever a soluble but non-oxidising counter-ion is wanted.
In printed electronics a solution of silver acetate in aqueous ammonia, treated with formic acid, gives a particle-free reactive silver ink that deposits conductive silver at 90–100 °C. The same chemistry underlies antimicrobial coatings and the silver loading of textiles and polymers, where silver acetate is preferred over the nitrate because it is less oxidising towards the substrate.