Among Ru3Cl9, Ru3Cl7, Ru5Cl7, Ru3Cl3 and Ru3 catalytic models, Ru5Cl7 performs best. In Ru5Cl7, the low chloride-coordinated Ru is responsible for activating reactants and adding H to C2H2, while the high coordinated is responsible for providing Cl to C2H3˙.