Simultaneous oxidative and reductive reactions in one system by atomic design

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Single-atom catalysts often exhibit unexpected catalytic activity for many important chemical and biological reactions with respect to their bulk counterparts, and have been recognized as potential substitutes for natural enzymes. Here we report a biomimetic composite, yolk–shell Pd1@Fe1, that features two compatible single-atom systems with atomically dispersed Fe1 sites in a N-doped carbon shell and Pd1 sites in a yolk derived from a metal–organic framework. Directly utilizing the O2 and H2 sources generated on-site from the electrocatalytic overall water splitting, the as-synthesized yolk–shell Pd1@Fe1 could simultaneously catalyse nitroaromatic hydrogenation and alkene epoxidation reactions and lead to a cascade synthesis of amino alcohols. Our findings provide a versatile strategy to integrate different single metal sites within one system to allow the continuous and easy synthesis of complex compounds for various challenging reactions. Single-atom catalysts can exhibit improved catalytic performance with respect to their bulk counterparts. Now, the authors introduce a yolk@shell catalyst with spatially separated Pd and Fe single sites that simultaneously catalyse nitroaromatic hydrogenation and alkene epoxidation reactions, leading to a cascade synthesis of amino alcohols.