A metal-organic gel (MOG) route to immobilised catalysts has been developed based on the reversibility of coordination bond formation in a Fe3+-carboxylate MOG. The ferric gel was rationally designed based on a bifunctional ligand, 5-1H-benzo[d]imidazole-1,3-dicarboxylic acid (L1), in which the imidazole N atom may further hind to a soft ion like Pd2+ more strongly Clue to the HSAB matching. Palladium(II) was successfully loaded in the gel to yield a supported coordination catalyst. Compared with its homogeneous counterparts, the immobilised gel catalyst exhibited significantly improved catalytic activity Under mild conditions as shown in Suzuki-Miyaura C-C coupling, and Could be reused for several times. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.