Oxidative Addition of Water to the Ru^{<scp>II</scp>} Catalyst K[Ru^{<scp>II</scp>}(Hedta)(CO)]: Homogeneous Catalysis of the Water‐Gas Shift Reaction under Ambient Conditions

Abstract

A 75% CO conversion is obtained after four hours at 20 °C and 1 atm CO for the water-gas reaction when the RuII complex 1 is used as homogeneous catalyst. The optimum reaction conditions were found to be 50 °C and 15 atm CO; the turnover number is then 350 mol CO2/H2 per mole of catalyst per hour. 1 is by far the most effective homogeneous catalyst for the water-gas reaction; the heterogeneously catalyzed reaction is usually carried out at 400–460°C and 200 atm CO.