A robust, air-stable, reusable ruthenium catalyst for dehydrogenation of ammonia borane.

We describe an efficient homogeneous ruthenium catalyst for the dehydrogenation of ammonia borane (AB). This catalyst liberates more than 2 equiv of H(2) and up to 4.6 system wt % H(2) from concentrated AB suspensions under air. Importantly, this catalyst is robust, delivering several cycles of dehydrogenation at high [AB] without loss of catalytic activity, even with exposure to air and water.