Hydrogen generation from alcohols catalyzed by ruthenium-triphenylphosphine complexes: multiple reaction pathways.

We report a comprehensive density functional theory (DFT) study of the mechanism of the methanol dehydrogenation reaction catalyzed by [RuH(2)(H(2))(PPh(3))(3)]. Using the B97-D dispersion-corrected functional, four pathways have been fully characterized, which differ in the way the critical beta-hydrogen transfer step is brought about (e.g., by prior dissociation of one PPh(3) ligand). All these pathways are found to be competitive (DeltaG(++) = 27.0-32.1 kcal/mol at 150 degrees C) and strongly interlocked. The reaction can thus follow multiple reaction channels, a feature which is expected to be at the origin of the good kinetics of this system. Our results also point to the active role of PPh(3) ligands, which undergo significant conformational changes as the reaction occurs, and provide insights into the role of the base, which acts as a "co-catalyst" by facilitating proton transfers within active species. Activation barriers decrease on going from methanol to ethanol and 2-propanol substrates, in accord with experiment.