Ruthenium dioxide nanoparticles in ionic liquids: synthesis, characterization and catalytic properties in hydrogenation of olefins and arenes

The reaction of NaBH4 with RuCl3 dissolved in 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (BMI.PF6) ionic liquid is a simple and reproducible method for the synthesis of stable RuO2 nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution within 2-3 nm. RuO2 nanoparticles were characterized by XRD, XPS, EDS and TEM. These nanoparticles showed high catalytic activity either in the solventless or liquid-liquid biphasic hydrogenation of olefins and arenes under mild reaction conditions. Hg(0) and CS2 poisoning experiments and XRD and TEM analysis of particles isolated after catalysis indicated the formation of Ru(0) nanoparticles. The nanoparticles could be re-used in solventless conditions up to 10 times in the hydrogenation of 1-hexene yielding a total turnover number for exposed Ru atoms of 175,000. (author)