The interaction of Co(acac) 2(3) with LiAlH 4 or LiAlH(t-BuO) 3 was studied using NMR, UV, IR, ESR spectroscopy, electron microscopy, and volumometry. The basic stages of formation of cobalt catalysts for hydrogenation were suggested. The formation of the nanoparticles that are active in the hydrogenation process is shown to occur at a ratio of reagents 5 ≤ Red/Co ≤ 12. The nanoparticles are stabilized by an excess of LiAlH 4 or LiAlH(t-BuO) 3 , as well as by the products of their catalytic decomposition under the action of cobalt in the reduced state. At the ratio LiAlH 4 / Co> 12 to obtain the particles active in catalysis their activation by a proton-donor compound is required.The study of the Ziegler systems based on the transition metal complex compounds combined with the organic hydride compounds of the metals from I-III groups in the hydrogenation catalysis has been carried out since the second half of XX century and is continued now [1][2][3][4]. Despite such a long period of study and industrial applications of these systems, in particular, in the process of hydrogenation of polymers [5], some aspects of the formation and nature of the catalytically active species require further research of fundamental nature. This concerns, above all, establishing all the functions of the I-III groups metal compounds in the processes of formation and operation of the Ziegler type catalyst.To date, experimentally has been shown that the coreagents in the Ziegler type systems are involved in the formation of hydride or an organic derivative of the transition metal, reduction of the transition metal compound, most often to the metal in the zero oxidation state, formation of adducts with the reduced form of the transition metal of the type of acid-base interaction, and stabilization of nanoparticles [6-8]. However, some aspects of this problem have not yet been substantiated experimentally. These include the role of the decomposition reactions of the I-III group metal compounds catalyzed by the transition metals [8,9].We have previously shown [10] that in the formation of nickel-based hydrogenation catalysts using lithium aluminum hydride LiAlH 4 , the function of the latter is not limited to the reduction of the nickel precursor. The tetrahydroaluminate anions adsorbed on the surface act as a stabilizer of the nickel nanoparticles. Besides, the tetrahydroaluminate anions and probably products of catalytic decomposition of LiAlH 4 occupying the vacant positions on the surface may act as catalyst poisons. Therefore, the resultant nanoparticles are active in the hydrogenation only when they are activated by a proton-donor compound. In contrast to nickel, the palladium catalysts active in the hydrogenation are formed under the action of LiAlH 4 without activation with alcohol or water at a ratio of LiAlH 4 /Pd < 10 [11].These results have generated the need to study the cobalt-containing catalytic systems, formed by using LiAlH 4 and its alkoxy derivative LiAlH(t-BuO) 3 as the reducing agent, in the hydrogenation processes. A...