Catalytic dehydrogenation of methanol with ruthenium complexes

Abstract

Dihydrogen was evolved at sufficiently high reaction rates from the methanol solution of ruthenium chloride under reflux conditions in the presence of an excess of sodium methoxide, with small amounts of sodium hydroxide. An activation energy of 123 kJ mol −1 was obtained for the methanol solution containing sodium methoxide (20 wt.%). At low sodium methoxide concentrations, however, removal of the Cl − ligand from the ruthenium species by adding silver tetrafluoroborate accelerated the reaction. Sodium formate was ascertained to be the reaction product in the solution. The correlation between the coordination structure of ruthenium and the catalytic activity is discussed.