Catalytically Active Palladium Nanoparticle‐Cored Ferrocenyl‐Terminated Dendrimers

Nanoparticle‐cored (NP‐cored) ferrocenyl dendrimers are precise multifunctional supramolecular nanomaterials owing to their active central and terminal groups and high (1→3) branching connectivity. For instance, catalysis in the interior of the metallodendrimer remains intriguing, especially because sulfur ligands have the reputation to inhibit catalytic reactions on surfaces. A nonaferrocenyl thiol dendron, 1 , was utilized to prepare PdNP‐cored metallodendrimers (FcD‐PdNPs) 2 , which were characterized by 1 H, 13 C NMR and FTIR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and TEM. The ratio of precursor complex [PdCl 2 (MeCN) 2 ] to dendron 1 was demonstrated to play a key role in the effectiveness of 2 as catalyst in Suzuki–Miyaura and styrene hydrogenation reactions, and a ratio of 5:1 optimized intradendritic catalytic activity for styrene hydrogenation at room temp. and 1 atm H 2 .