Well dispersed ruthenium(0) nanoparticles, stabilized in the ionic liquid agent, trihexyltetradecylphosphonium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, have been successfully prepared via a reduction reaction of the precursor [CpRuCp*RuCp*]PF6 (Cp* = C5Me5). The ruthenium(0) nanoparticles were shown to catalyze the isotope exchange reaction between 10B enriched diborane and natural abundant B10H14 to produce highly 10B enriched (approximately 90%) decaborane(14) products. The ruthenium(0) nanoparticles were characterized by TEM, XRD, and XPS. The 10B enriched decaborane(14) has been analyzed by Raman spectroscopy, NMR, and high-resolution MS.

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