Ruthenium without hydrocarbons

Binuclear ruthenium compounds, with hydrocarbon bridges without M-M bonds, 6, 619... 

Iron and its compounds (carbide, nitride), as well as ruthenium, cobalt, rhodium, and molybdenum compounds (sulfide, carbide), are used most frequently to produce high-molecular-weight hydrocarbons. Iron can be prepared as a high-surface-area catalyst (==300 m /g) even without using a microporous oxide support. 7-AI2O3, Ti02, and silica are frequently used as supports of the dispersed transition-metal particles. Recently zeolites, as well as thorium oxide and lanthanum oxide, have... 

Starting point for the emergence of electrocatalysis was the discovery that hydrocarbons could be oxidized at low temperatures (this fact had not been a part of the Ostwald scenario). Then it was discovered that synergistic effects were operative in the use of ruthenium-platinum catalysts for methanol oxidation, and that compounds such as platinum-free metalloporphyrins were useful catalysts for certain electrochemical reactions in fuel cells. Hopes were expressed that in the future expensive platinum catalyst could be replaced. Again, in the attempts of commercial realization of these discoveries considerable difficulties were encountered, which led to a period of disenchantment and pessimism in 1970s and 1980s. It had been demonstrated beyond doubt that, fundamentally, hydrocarbons could be oxidized at low temperatures, but practical rates that could be achieved were unrealistically low. It had also been demonstrated that fuel cells could be made to work without... 

---