Dihydrogen activation by sulfido-bridged dinuclear Ru/Ge complexes: insight into the [NiFe] hydrogenase unready state

A S/SH bridged hetero-dinuclear Ru/Ge complex cation reacted with H-2 to afford the mu-S/mu-H complex. The reaction was considerably slower compared to that of the mu-S/mu-OH complex. Thus, the mu-S/mu-SH and mu-S/mu-OH complexes might provide models for the unready and ready states, respectively, of [NiFe] hydrogenase.