A Rational Strategy To Construct a Neutral Boron Imidazolate Framework with Encapsulated Small-Size Au–Pd Nanoparticles for Catalysis

A series of 3D neutral boron imidazolate frameworks (BIFs) with octahedral metal centers were synthesized based on the charge-balancing principle. Au–Pd nanoparticles (NPs) with a mean size of 2.12 nm were then successfully obtained and encapsulated in these BIF structures through the simultaneous reduction of Au3+/Pd3+ ions by B–H bonds of tridentate boron ligands. The very small sizes of these Au–Pd NPs are attributed to the pore confinement effect of BIFs. This work not only brings new methodology for the construction of neutral BIFs but also suggests a new strategy for loading smaller-sized bimetallic NPs into BIFs.