We have studied the electronic behavior of four dehydrogenation catalysts, Pt 4 , Pt 4 C 2 , Pt 4 Ge, and Pt 4 GeC 2 , all supported on Al 2 O 3 , to explore the role that Ge plays in mitigating deactivation via coke formation. Pt 4 is predicted to be a potent ethane dehydrogenation catalyst, but suffers from poor selectivity, driving deep dehydrogenation that leads to carbon deposition and catalyst deactivation. Coke formation induces restructuring of the cluster core, and increases the energy barriers for ethane and ethylene C-H activation, while also decreasing adsorption energies. The partially coked Pt 4 C 2 is therefore more selective, but much less active than the uncoked catalyst. This deactivation is attributed to electronic effects, as coke formation does not primarily block sites, but changes the electronic properties of the cluster, with the C 2 unit withdrawing electron density from Pt. Pt 4 Ge is already more selective than Pt 4 , due to higher ethylene C-H activation barriers, while retaining the same activity towards ethane. However, it is the interaction between Ge and C 2 that results in "coke-resistance". Pt 4 GeC 2 has a similar ethane C-H activation barrier to Pt 4 Ge, and even higher ethylene C-H activation barriers. Ge donates electrons to the C 2 unit, preventing the depletion of electron density on Pt, allowing it to retain ac-tivity despite some coke formation. Additionally, as Ge strengthens the C-C π-bond, the binding of further coke to the C 2 unit is discouraged, as it would require the disruption of the bonding C-C interaction. Thus, Pt 4 GeC 2 is an active dehydrogenation catalyst despite carbon deposition, with desirable selectivity arising from the interaction between Ge and C 2 . The ab initio results are substantiated by experimental results, which demonstrate that the physical loss of ethylene binding sites during coking is insufficient to explain loss of activity, reflecting that the effect observed for both Pt 4 and Pt 4 Ge is electronic rather than steric. The cooperative interaction between Ge and C 2 invites us to see the two species as co-dopants for Pt 4 , where Ge as a promoter prevents the poisoning effect of C 2 alone. This conclusion sheds new light on the report in literature that "coke-resistant" Pt-Sn or Pt-Ge catalysts 6 remain active despite coke buildup. We believe that the observations reported here may help explain the behavior of a broader class of coke-resistant catalysts, and shoudl be applicable to other compositions and reactions.