Ruthenium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ru and atomic number 44. It is a rare transition metal belonging to the platinum group of the periodic table. Like the other metals of the platinum group, ruthenium is inert to most other chemicals. Karl Ernst Claus, a Russian-born scientist of Baltic-German ancestry, discovered the element in 1844 at Kazan State University and named ruthenium in honor of Russia. Ruthenium is usually found as a minor component of platinum ores; the annual production has risen from about 19 tonnes in 2009 to some 35.5 tonnes in 2017. Most ruthenium produced is used in wear-resistant electrical contacts and thick-film resistors. A minor application for ruthenium is in platinum alloys and as a chemistry catalyst. A new application of ruthenium is as the capping layer for extreme ultraviolet photomasks. Ruthenium is generally found in ores with the other platinum group metals in the Ural Mountains and in North and South America. Small but commercially important quantities are also found in pentlandite extracted from Sudbury, Ontario, and in pyroxenite deposits in South Africa.
Group 8 is a group (column) of chemical elements in the periodic table. It consists of iron (Fe), ruthenium (Ru), osmium (Os) and hassium (Hs). "Group 8" is the modern standard designation for this group, adopted by the IUPAC in 1990. It should not be confused with "group VIIIA" in the CAS system, which is group 18, the noble gases. In the older group naming systems, this group was combined with groups 9 and 10 and called group "VIIIB" in the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) "U.S. system", or "VIII" in the old IUPAC (pre-1990) "European system". The elements in this group are all transition metals that lie in the d-block of the periodic table.
Ruthenium(III) chloride is the chemical compound with the formula RuCl3. "Ruthenium(III) chloride" more commonly refers to the hydrate RuCl3·xH2O. Both the anhydrous and hydrated species are dark brown or black solids. The hydrate, with a varying proportion of water of crystallization, often approximating to a trihydrate, is a commonly used starting material in ruthenium chemistry.
p-Cymene is a naturally occurring aromatic organic compound. It is classified as an alkylbenzene related to monocyclic monoterpenes. Its structure consists of a benzene ring para-substituted with a methyl group and an isopropyl group. p-Cymene is insoluble in water, but miscible with organic solvents.
Ruthenium tetroxide is the inorganic compound with the formula RuO4. It is a yellow volatile solid that melts near room temperature. It has the odor of ozone. Samples are typically black due to impurities. The analogous OsO4 is more widely used and better known. It is also the anhydride of hyperruthenic acid (H2RuO5). One of the few solvents in which RuO4 forms stable solutions is CCl4.
Ruthenium(IV) oxide is the inorganic compound with the formula RuO2. This black solid is the most common oxide of ruthenium. It is widely used as an electrocatalyst for producing chlorine, chlorine oxides, and O2. Like many dioxides, RuO2 adopts the rutile structure.
Ruthenium compounds are compounds containing the element ruthenium (Ru). Ruthenium compounds can have oxidation states ranging from 0 to +8, and −2. The properties of ruthenium and osmium compounds are often similar. The +2, +3, and +4 states are the most common. The most prevalent precursor is ruthenium trichloride, a red solid that is poorly defined chemically but versatile synthetically.
Ruthenocene is an organoruthenium compound with the formula (C5H5)2Ru. This pale yellow, volatile solid is classified as a sandwich compound and more specifically, as a metallocene.
Dichlorotetrakis(dimethyl sulfoxide) ruthenium(II) describes coordination compounds with the formula RuCl2(dmso)4, where DMSO is dimethylsulfoxide. Both cis and trans isomers are known, but the cis isomer is more common. The cis isomer is a yellow, air-stable solid that is soluble in some organic solvents. These sulfoxide complexes are used in the synthesis of various ruthenium(ii) complexes. They have also attracted attention as possible anti-cancer drugs.
(Cymene)ruthenium dichloride dimer is the organometallic compound with the formula [(cymene)RuCl2]2. This red-coloured, diamagnetic solid is a reagent in organometallic chemistry and homogeneous catalysis. The complex is structurally similar to (benzene)ruthenium dichloride dimer.
Chloro(cyclopentadienyl)bis(triphenylphosphine)ruthenium is the organoruthenium half-sandwich compound with formula RuCl(PPh3)2(C5H5). It as an air-stable orange crystalline solid that is used in a variety of organometallic synthetic and catalytic transformations. The compound has idealized Cs symmetry. It is soluble in chloroform, dichloromethane, and acetone.
Organoruthenium chemistry is the chemistry of organometallic compounds containing a carbon to ruthenium chemical bond. Several organoruthenium catalysts are of commercial interest and organoruthenium compounds have been considered for cancer therapy. The chemistry has some stoichiometric similarities with organoiron chemistry, as iron is directly above ruthenium in group 8 of the periodic table. The most important reagents for the introduction of ruthenium are ruthenium(III) chloride and triruthenium dodecacarbonyl.
Ruthenium(III) acetylacetonate is a coordination complex with the formula Ru(O2C5H7)3. O2C5H7− is the ligand called acetylacetonate. This compound exists as a dark violet solid that is soluble in most organic solvents. It is used as a precursor to other compounds of ruthenium.
Dichlorotris(triphenylphosphine)ruthenium(II) is a coordination complex of ruthenium. It is a chocolate brown solid that is soluble in organic solvents such as benzene. The compound is used as a precursor to other complexes including those used in homogeneous catalysis.
Ruthenium hexafluoride, also ruthenium(VI) fluoride (RuF6), is a compound of ruthenium and fluorine and one of the seventeen known binary hexafluorides.
Ruthenium anti-cancer drugs are coordination complexes of ruthenium complexes that have anticancer properties. They promise to provide alternatives to platinum-based drugs for anticancer therapy. No ruthenium anti-cancer drug has been commercialized.
Ruthenium pentafluoride is the inorganic compound with the empirical formula RuF5. This green volatile solid has rarely been studied but is of interest as a binary fluoride of ruthenium, i.e. a compound containing only Ru and F. It is sensitive toward hydrolysis. Its structure consists of Ru4F20 tetramers, as seen in the isostructural platinum pentafluoride. Within the tetramers, each Ru adopts octahedral molecular geometry, with two bridging fluoride ligands.
Ruthenium(III) acetate, commonly known as basic ruthenium acetate, describes a family of salts where the cation has the formula [Ru3O(O2CCH3)6(OH2)3]+. A representative derivative is the dihydrate of the tetrafluoroborate salt [Ru3O(O2CCH3)6(OH2)3]BF4(H2O)2, which is the source of the data in the table above. This and related salts are forest green, air-stable solids that are soluble in alcohols.
Ruthenium(III) bromide is a chemical compound of ruthenium and bromine with the formula RuBr3. It is a dark brown solid that decomposes above 400 °C.
Ruthenium(III) iodide is a chemical compound containing ruthenium and iodine with the formula RuI3. It is a black solid.
