Spectroscopic Characterization of the Synergistic Mechanism of Ruthenium–Lithium Hydrides for Dinitrogen Cleavage

Abstract

Elucidating the role of alkali/alkaline earth metal hydrides in dinitrogen activation remains an important and challenging goal for spectroscopic studies of bulk systems, because their spectral signatures are often masked by the collective effects. Herein, mass-selected photoelectron velocity-map imaging spectroscopic and quantum chemical calculation techniques are utilized to explore the promotion mechanism of LiH in the Ru-based catalysts toward N2 activation. The RuHN2 – anion is determined to be a N2-tagged complex. In contrast, the RuHN2(LiH) n – (n = 1 and 2) anions are characterized to have NN bond-cleaved ring structures. These observations indicate that the complexation of LiH to RuH– significantly facilitates NN bond cleavage. Theoretical analyses show that the synergy between Ru and LiH efficiently lowers the energy barrier of NN bond cleavage. These findings clarify the pivotal roles played by the LiH species in the transition metal catalysts for N2 activation and have important practical implications for the prospective design of high-performance catalysts via metal tuning strategies.

Superior Reactivity of Molybdenum–Sulfur Cluster Anions Mo5S2– and Mo5S3– toward Dinitrogen

“…The gas-phase clusters serve as well-defined models from which one can obtain mechanistic insights into the heterogeneous process at an atomic level. − A lot of metal clusters including naked metal clusters and heteroatom-incorporated naked metal clusters in the gas phase have been reported to have remarkable reactivity toward N 2 , ,− among which the investigation on the metal–sulfur clusters is still scarce . Up to now, only Fe n S n + ( n = 2–4) and Fe 5 S n – ( n = 2–3) clusters were reported to adsorb N 2 in an end-on coordination mode, , and neutral Ta 3 S n ( n = 0–3) clusters were capable of cleaving the N≡N bond .…”