Conclusions In summary, by

employing a functionalized magnetic polymer microsphere template, we have successfully synthesized monodisperse, hierarchically mesoporous γ-Fe2O3/Au/mSiO2 microspheres with high surface area. Quaternary ammonium in the surface of the microspheres serves not only as a reducing agent but also as a protecting ligand, which makes the adsorption of gold nanoparticles simple and convenient. Gold nanoparticles are reduced in situ and incorporated into the matrix of porous microspheres. The resulting multicomponent microspheres have high magnetization and can be conveniently separated from the reaction solution using NVP-BSK805 clinical trial external magnetic fields. They exhibit excellent catalytic performance and high reusability for the reduction of 4-NP in the presence of NaBH4. This functional microsphere holds great promise as a novel gold-based catalyst system for various catalytic selleck applications. Additionally, the approach for the fabrication of γ-Fe2O3/Au/SiO2 microspheres can be extended to synthesize

other multicomponent nanostructures for advanced applications in chemical/biosensor, environmental detection, and electromagnetic devices. Acknowledgements This work was financially supported by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation 2012 M510250 and the Shenzhen Strategic Emerging Industries Project (JCYJ201206141509581, JCYJ20130329181034621, JCYJ20120614151035045, CXZZ20130322142615483). This work is financially

supported by grants from the National Basic Research Program of China (2010CB923303 to J. Z.). J. Z. thanks the National Natural Science Foundation of China find more (91013009) for the support. Electronic supplementary material Small molecule library in vitro Additional file 1: Figure S1: (A-B) SEM images of commercially available porous P(GMA/EGDMA) microspheres. (C-D) TEM images of synthesized magnetic γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. (DOC 2 MB) References 1. Hashmi ASK, Hutchings GJ: Gold catalysis. Angew Chem Int Edit 2006, 45:7896–7936.CrossRef 2. Haruta M, Kobayashi T, Sano H, Yamada N: Novel gold catalysts for the oxidation of carbon-monoxide at a temperature far below 0-degrees-C. Chem Lett 1987, 2:405–408.CrossRef 3. Haruta M, Yamada N, Kobayashi T, Iijima S: Gold catalysts prepared by coprecipitation for low-temperature oxidation of hydrogen and of carbon-monoxide. J Catal 1989, 115:301–309.CrossRef 4. Yoon B, Wai CM: Microemulsion-templated synthesis of carbon nanotube-supported Pd and Rh nanoparticles for catalytic applications. J Am Chem Soc 2005, 127:17174–17175.CrossRef 5. Ko S, Jang J: A highly efficient palladium nanocatalyst anchored on a magnetically functionalized polymer-nanotube support. Angew Chem Int Edit 2006, 45:7564–7567.CrossRef 6. Ge JP, Huynh T, Hu YX, Yin YD: Hierarchical magnetite/silica nanoassemblies as magnetically recoverable catalyst-supports. Nano Lett 2008, 8:931–934.CrossRef 7.