Supramolecular cluster catalysis: A case study of benzene hydrogenation

A review. The hydrogenation of benzene to give cyclohexane, catalyzed under biphasic conditions by the water-sol. trinuclear arene ruthenium cluster cations [H3Ru3(C6H6)(C6Me6)2(O)]+ (1), [H3Ru3(C6H5Me)(C6Me6)2(O)]+ (2), [H3Ru3(1,4-MeC6H4Pri)(C6Me6 )2(O)]+ (3), [H3Ru3(1,2,4,5-C6H2Me4)3(O)] + (4), [H3Ru3{C6H5(CH2)2OH}(C6Me6)2(O)]+ (5), and [H3Ru3{C6H5(CH2)3OH}(C6Me6)2(O)]+ (6), is believed to occur within the hydrophobic pocket spanned by the three arene ligands of the trinuclear cluster, thus forming a supramol. catalyst-substrate host-guest complex. This paper is a short overview of our research efforts directed to a new catalytic concept for which we coined the term "supramol. cluster catalysis". [on SciFinder(R)]