Palladium(II,0) complexes were anchored on dicyano-functionalized MCM-41, producing new heterogeneous catalysts of the Heck reaction, which were synthesized via two-step surface modification of mesoporous molecular sieve MCM-41. The developed catalysts demonstrated easy separation after reaction, and reusability. BET, XRD, FT-IR, ICP-AES, H-2 chemisorption as well as XPS techniques were employed to characterize the catalytic materials. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.