Pt nanoparticles immobilized in mesostructured silica: a non-leaching catalyst for 1-octene hydrosilylation.

A catalyst containing small (ca. 2.5 nm) and crystalline Pt nanoparticles embedded into the walls of a mesostructured silica framework was found to be highly active in alkene hydrosilylation reaching TONs of ca. 105. More importantly, no Pt leaching was detected. This result is remarkable because Pt leaching is a recurrent problem in alkene hydrosilylation, which often prevents heterogeneous catalysts from being used industrially. This result is in contrast to the significant Pt leaching observed for other Pt/SiO2 catalysts.