Three new bridging complexes of rare earth and cobalt cluster were synthesized and characterized via ICP, IR and TG techniques. The structure of the complexes was speculated as： two rare earth atoms were bridged with four CF3COO–, and rare earth atoms were coordinated with cobalt carbonyl clusters to form a steady structure. Application of the complexes as the catalyst precursors was explored for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The study showed that the bridging complexes of rare earth and cobalt cluster had large molecular size and were difficult to enter pore path of γ-Al2O3, so they were dispersed on the surface of γ-Al2O3 support. In addition, the performance of Co（Ce）/ γ-Al2O3 was the best among the catalysts with complex as precursor and maintained 77.7% CO conversion at 220 oC for 80 operation hours.
