N-heterocyclic carbene-stabilized metal nanoparticles within porous organic cages for catalytic application

Tuning the surface-embellishing ligands of metal nanoparticles (NPs) is a powerful strategy to modulate their morphology, surface electronic and functional features, impacting their catalytic activity and selectivity. In this work, we reported the design and synthesis of a polytriazolium organic cage PIC-T, capable of stabilizing PdNPs within its discrete cavity. The obtained material (denoted Pd@PCC-T) is highly durable and monodispersed with narrow particle-size distribution of 2.06 ± 0.02 nm, exhibiting excellent catalytic performance and recyclability in the Sonogashira coupling and the tandem reaction to synthesize benzofuran derivatives. Further investigation indicates that the modulation of NHC sites embedded in the organic cage has an impact on NPs’ catalytic efficiency, thus providing a novel methodology to design superior NPs catalysts.