Dehydrogenation of ammonia borane through the third equivalent of hydrogen.

Abstract

Ammonia borane (AB) has high hydrogen density (19.6 wt%), and can, in principle, release up to 3 equivalents of H2 under mild catalytic conditions. A limited number of catalysts are capable of non-hydrolytic dehydrogenation of AB beyond 2 equivalents of H2 under mild conditions, but none of these is shown directly to derivatise borazine, the product formed after 2 equivalents of H2 are released. We present here a high productivity ruthenium-based catalyst for non-hydrolytic AB dehydrogenation that is capable of borazine dehydrogenation, and thus exhibits among the highest H2 productivity reported to date for anhydrous AB dehydrogenation. At 1 mol% loading, (phen)Ru(OAc)2(CO)2 () effects AB dehydrogenation through 2.7 equivalents of H2 at 70 °C, is robust through multiple charges of AB, and is water and air stable. We further demonstrate that catalyst has the ability both to dehydrogenate borazine in isolation and dehydrogenate AB itself. This is important, both because borazine derivatisation is productivity-limiting in AB dehydrogenation and because borazine is a fuel cell poison that is commonly released in H2 production from this medium.