Gold Redox Catalysis for Selective Oxidation of Methane to Methanol

As good as gold: The activation and selective oxygenation of inert CH bonds, as in methane, is a demanding problem. It is now shown that the combination of gold as a catalyst and H2SeO4 as the oxidant results in a 94 % selectivity for CH3OSO3H at 28 % CH4 conversion (see scheme). These results mean that gold now claims its place alongside the other noble metals as a methane oxidation catalyst.