Reactivity of 3-hexyne on oxygen modified Ru(0 0 1) surfaces: Observation of oxametallacycles by RAIRS

The chemical behaviour of 3-hexyne on oxygen modified Ru(0 0 1) surfaces has been analysed under ultrahigh-vacuum, using reflection–absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS). The effects of oxygen coverage, 3-hexyne exposure and adsorption temperature were studied. Two modified Ru(0 0 1) surfaces were prepared: Ru(0 0 1)-(2 × 2)-O and Ru(0 0 1)-(2 × 1)-O that correspond to oxygen coverages (θO) of 0.25 and 0.5 ML, respectively. The striking result is the direct bonding to an O atom when the modified surfaces are exposed to a very low dose (0.2 L) of 3-hexyne at low temperature (100 K). For θO = 0.25 ML, an unsaturated oxametallacycle [Ru–O–C(C2H5)C(C2H5)–Ru] is proposed, identified by RAIRS for the first time, through the νCC and νCO modes. Further decomposition at 110 K yields smaller oxygenated intermediates, such as acetyl [μ3-η2(C,O)-CH3CO], co-adsorbed with a small amount of carbon monoxide and non-dissociated species. The temperature at which a fraction of molecules undergoes complete C–C and C–H bond breaking is thus much lower than on clean Ru(0 0 1). The ultimate decomposition product observed by RAIRS at 220 K is methylidyne [CH]. Another key observation was that the adsorption temperature is not determinant of the reaction route, contrarily to what occurs on clean Ru(0 0 1): even when 3- hexyne strikes the surface at a rather high temperature (220 K), the multiple bond does not break completely. For θO = 0.5 ML, a saturated oxametallacycle [Ru–O–CH(C2H5)–CH(C2H5)–Ru] is also proposed at 100 K, identified by the νasO–C–C (at 1043 cm−1) and νsO–C–C (at 897 cm−1) modes, showing that some decomposition with C–H bond breaking occurs. For this oxygen coverage, the reaction temperatures are lower, and the intermediate surface species are less stable.