Role
of the Chemically Non-Innocent Ligand in the
Catalytic Formation of Hydrogen and Carbon Dioxide from Methanol and
Water with the Metal as the Spectator
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Abstract
The catalytic mechanism for the production
of H<sub>2</sub> and
CO<sub>2</sub> from CH<sub>3</sub>OH and H<sub>2</sub>O by [K(dme)<sub>2</sub>][Ru(H) (trop<sub>2</sub>dad)] (K(dme)<sub>2</sub>.<b>1_exp</b>) was investigated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations.
Since the reaction occurs under mild conditions and at reasonable
rates, it could be considered an ideal way to use methanol to store
hydrogen. <i>The predicted mechanism begins with the dehydrogenation
of methanol to formaldehyde through a new ligand–ligand bifunctional
mechanism, where two hydrogen atoms of CH<sub>3</sub>OH eliminate
to the ligand’s N and C atoms, a mechanism that is more favorable
than the previously known mechanisms, β-H elimination, or the
metal–ligand bifunctional</i>. The key initiator of this
first step is formed by migration of the hydride in <b>1</b> from the ruthenium to the meta-carbon atom, which generates <b>1</b>″ with a frustrated Lewis pair in the ring between
N and C. Hydroxide, formed when <b>1</b>″ cleaves H<sub>2</sub>O, reacts rapidly with CH<sub>2</sub>O to give H<sub>2</sub>C(OH)O<sup>–</sup>, which subsequently donates a hydride to <b>6</b> to generate HCOOH and <b>5</b>. HCOOH then protonates <b>5</b> to give formate and a neutral complex, <b>4</b>, with
a fully hydrogenated ligand. The hydride of formate transfers to <b>6</b>, releasing CO<sub>2</sub>. The fully hydrogenated complex, <b>4</b>, is first deprotonated by OH<sup>–</sup> to form <b>5</b>, which then releases hydrogen to regenerate the catalyst, <b>1</b>″. <i>In this mechanism, which explains the experimental
observations, the whole reaction occurs on the chemically non-innocent
ligand with the ruthenium atom appearing as a spectator</i>