Mechanistic Insight into Synergistic Catalysis of Olefin Hydrogenation by a Hetero-Dinuclear RuII-CoII Complex with Adjacent Reaction Sites.

We have designed and synthesized a hetero-dinuclear RuII-CoII complex with a dinucleating ligand inspired by hetero-dinuclear active sites of metalloenzymes. A synergistic effect between the adjacent RuII and CoII sites has been confirmed in catalytic olefin hydrogenation by the complex, exhibiting a much higher turnover number than those of mononuclear RuII or CoII complexes as the components. A RuII-hydrido species was detected by 1H NMR and electrospray ionization (ESI)-time-of-flight (TOF)-MS measurements as an intermediate to react with olefins, and CoII-bound methanol was suggested to act as a proton source.