Ultrafine palladium nanoparticles confined in core-shell magnetic porous organic polymer nanospheres as highly efficient hydrogenation catalyst.

The development of porous organic polymer (POP)-based materials with controllable structures is highly desirable for catalysis, drug delivery, and chemical adsorption. In this work, we prepared unique porous magnetic core–shell POP nanospheres (Fe3O4@PDA@POP) through a facile strategy. These nanospheres contained a core of magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs), a hydrophilic intermediate layer of dopamine and a POP outer layer. The Fe3O4@PDA@POP showed high porosity, making it an ideal supporting material for fabricating ultrafine and highly dispersed noble-metal NPs (NMNPs). Thus, highly dispersed ultrafine Pd NPs (1.5–2.1 nm) were confined and stabilized within the pores of Fe3O4@PDA@POP via a reverse double-solvent approach (RDSA) to obtain Fe3O4@PDA@POP@Pd catalyst. The Fe3O4@PDA@POP@Pd-2.5% catalyst showed excellent catalytic performance and recyclability towards the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene, alkenes, and alkynes. Hence, this work can pave the way for the development and application of functionalized POP materials to construct efficient catalytic systems.