Due to its highly effective ability to harden platinum and
palladium, ruthenium is used in Pt and Pd alloys to make severe wear-resistant electrical
contacts. It is sometimes alloyed with gold in jewelry.
0.1% ruthenium is added to titanium to improve its corrosion
resistance a hundredfold.
Ruthenium will also be used in some advanced high-temperature
single-crystal superalloys, with applications including the turbine blades in jet engines.
Fountain pen nibs are frequently tipped with alloys
containing ruthenium. From 1944 onward, the famous Parker 51 fountain pen was outfitted
with the "RU" nib, a 14K gold nib tipped with 96.2% ruthenium, and 3.8% iridium.
Ruthenium is also a versatile catalyst: hydrogen sulfide can
be split by light by using an aqueous suspension of CdS particles loaded with ruthenium
dioxide. This may be useful in the removal of H2S from oil refineries and from
other industrial processes.
Organometallic ruthenium carbene and allenylidene complexes
have recently been found as highly efficient catalysts for olefin metathesis with
important applications in organic and pharmaceutical chemistry.
Some ruthenium complexes absorb light throughout the visible
spectrum and are being actively researched in various, potential, solar energy
technologies.
The fluorescence of some ruthenium complexes is quenched by
oxygen, which has led to their use as optode sensors for oxygen.
Ruthenium red, [(NH3)5Ru-O-Ru(NH3)4-O-Ru(NH3)5]6+,
is a biological stain used to visualize polyanionic areas of membranes.
Ruthenium-centered complexes are being researched for
possible anticancer properties. Ruthenium, unlike traditional platinum complexes, show
greater resistance to hydrolysis and more selective action on tumors. NAMI-A and KP1019
are two drugs undergoing clinical evaluation against metastatic tumors and colon cancers.
Ruthenium was discovered and
isolated by Russian scientist Karl Klaus in 1844. Klaus showed that ruthenium oxide
contained a new metal and obtained 6 grams of ruthenium from the part of crude platinum
that is insoluble in aqua regia.
Jöns Berzelius and Gottfried Osann nearly discovered
ruthenium in 1827. The men examined residues that were left after dissolving crude
platinum from the
The name derives from Ruthenia the Latin word for Rus', a
historical area which includes present day
It is also possible that Polish chemist Jedrzej Sniadecki
isolated element 44 (which he called vestium) from platinum ores in 1807. However
his work was never confirmed and he later withdrew his discovery claim.