Free-standing mesoporous Pd was used in asymmetric hydrogenation of aromatic ketone.
Enantioselectivity (ee) was effectively tuned by altering the confinement effect.
Confinement effect was optimized by good control of nanoporosity and lattice property.
Optimized Pd catalyst exhibited 40–73% ee at 273 K under atmospheric pressure of H2.
DFT study found ee was linearly correlated with 螖E between prochiral-R & -S complexes.