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Updated: Feb 25, 2026

Heterogeneous Removal of Water-Soluble Ruthenium Olefin Metathesis Catalyst from Aqueous Media Via Host-Guest Interaction
Published on: August 23, 2018
Real-Time Elucidation of Catalytic Pathways in CO Hydrogenation on Ru
J LaRue1,2,3,4, O Krejčí2,5,6, L Yu7
1SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory , 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, United States.
Abstract:
The direct elucidation of the reaction pathways in heterogeneous catalysis has been challenging due to the short-lived nature of reaction intermediates. Here, we directly measured on ultrafast time scales the initial hydrogenation steps of adsorbed CO on a Ru catalyst surface, which is known as the bottleneck reaction in syngas and CO2 reforming processes. We initiated the hydrogenation of CO with an ultrafast laser temperature jump and probed transient changes in the electronic structure using real-time X-ray spectroscopy. In combination with theoretical simulations, we verified the formation of CHO during CO hydrogenation.
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