Highly Efficient Vanadium-Catalyzed Transformation of CH₄ and CO to Acetic Acid

The VO(acac) 2 (acac = 2,4-pentanedionato) catalyst in the presence of K 2 S 2 O 8 and CF 3 COOH has been found to efficiently transform methane and CO to acetic acid selectively. The reaction of methane (5 atm) with CO (20 atm) at 80 °C for 20 h gives acetic acid in 93% yield based on methane. Other vanadium compounds such as V 2 O 3, V 2 O 5, and NaVO 3 and various vanadium-containing heteropolyacids such as H 5 PV 2 Mo 10 O 40, H 4 PVW 11 O 40, and H 5 SiVW 11 O 40 also work as catalysts.