Ruthenium(0) nanoparticles stabilized by metal-organic framework (ZIF-8): Highly efficient catalyst for the dehydrogenation of dimethylamine-borane and transfer hydrogenation of unsaturated hydrocarbons using dimethylamine-borane as hydrogen source

Ruthenium(0) nanoparticles supported on zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8), RuNPs/ZIF-8, were reproducibly prepared by borohydride reduction of RuCl3/ZIF-(8) precatalyst in water at room temperature. The characterization of the dehydrated RuNPs/ZIF-8 was done by a combination of complimentary techniques, which reveals that the formation of well-dispersed ruthenium(0) nanoparticles (1.9 +/- 0.6 nm) on the surface of ZIF-8 by keeping the host framework intact. The catalytic activity of RuNPs/ZIF-8 was firstly tested in the dehydrogenation of dimethylamine-borane ((CH3)(2)NHBH3) in toluene. We found that ruthenium(0) nanoparticles supported on ZIF-8 can catalyze the dehydrogenation of dimethylamineborane with an initial TOF value of 59 min(-1) at 40 degrees C. Additionally, RuNPs/ZIF-8 catalyze the transfer hydrogenation of various unsaturated substrates in the presence of dimethylamine borane as hydrogen source even at low catalyst loadings. More importantly, they show high durability against leaching and sintering throughout the catalytic runs, which make them reusable catalyst in these important catalytic transformations. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.