Periodic Mesoporous Single-Atom Pd(0)-PPh₂-PMO(Et) Catalyst with High Activity and Stability in Water-Medium Organic...

Transition metal-catalyzed water-medium organic reactions represent an appealing strategy in green synthesis. Solid-supported heterogeneous catalysts could be easily recycled and reused, but they usually display low efficiency due to the diffusion limit and the gathering of active sites. Single-atom metal catalysts display a maximum number of active sites but usually suffer from gathering and leaching during reactions. In this work, we report the development of a robust Pd(0)-PPh₂-PMO(Et) catalyst by coordinating single Pd(0) atoms with PPh₂ ligands assembled into the wall of an ethyl (Et)-bridged periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO). Thus, the catalyst represents a synergistic platform where single-atom catalysis is enhanced by a tailored hydrophobic nanoenvironment, addressing both the activity and stability challenges in aqueous-phase reactions. More importantly, it exhibited strong durability owing to the strong coordination of both Pd(0) and Pd(II) with the PPh₂-ligand to inhibit gathering and leaching. This work offers a promising approach to designing robust heterogeneous single-atom organometal catalysts for water-medium reactions.