A new biopolymer-metal complex, wool-supported palladium-iron complex (wool-Pd-Fe), has been prepared and found to be a highly active catalyst for hydration of some alkenes to corresponding alcohols, such as allyl bromide to 1-bromo-2-propanol, allyl chloride to 1-chloro-2-propanol, allylamine to 1-amino-2-propanol, acrylonitrile to lactonitrile and cyclohexene to cyclohexanol in 95.0%, 87.5%, 90.6%, 75.3% and 98.2% yield, respectively, in the presence of water, butyl ether and phenol at 95 degreesC under 1 atm N-2. The yield was greatly affected by the Pd/Fe molar ratio in wool-Pd-Fe complex catalyst. And this catalyst was very stable and could be reused several times without remarkable change in the catalytic activity. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.