Kinetic data for the hydrolysis reaction: [(CO) 3 (bpy)Re I (4-CNpy)Ru III (NH 3 , that occurs after oxidation with S 2 O 2À 8 of the dinuclear species [(CO) 3 (bpy)Re I (4-CNpy)Ru II (NH 3 ) 5 ] 3þ , have been obtained in aqueous solutions by spectrophotometric techniques. The observed rate constant, k h ¼ (8.6 AE 0.5) Â 10 À3 s À1 , at 25 C, pH ¼ 3.0 (CF 3 COOH) and I ¼ 0.1 M (KCl), is ca. three times higher than the corresponding one for the mononuclear complex [(4-CNpy)Ru III (NH 3 ) 5 ] 3þ , indicating that the catalytic effect of the Ru III (NH 3 ) 5 moiety is enhanced by coordination of the free N of 4-CNpy to the Re I (CO) 3 (bpy) moiety. The value of k h is even higher than that of the dinuclear complex [(trpy)(bpy)Ru II (4-CNpy)Ru III (NH 3 ) 5 ] 5þ (trpy ¼ 2,2 0 :6 0 ,2 00 -terpyridine), reflecting the fact that carbonyls are much stronger -acceptors than polypyridines.