The nanoreactor of hollow magnetic mesoporous silica spheres (Pd/HMMS), with Pd and Fe3O4 nanopartides embedded in the mesoporous silica shell, were successfully prepared by using the colloidal carbon spheres of glucose, Pd and Fe3O4 heteroaggregates as the hard template together with a coating of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) mixture. The synthesized Pd/HMMS shows excellent catalytic activity in the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction of iodobenzene with phenylboronic acid with over 99% yield in 3 min and can be recycled multiple times without any significant loss in catalytic activity. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.