Catalytic partial oxidation of methane to methanol and formaldehyde

Two catalytic systems for the direct partial oxidation of methane by dioxygen are presented. The first system involves the catalytic oxidation of methane to methanol by dioxygen in a mixture of water and trifluoroacetic acid. The overall transformation encompasses three catalytic steps in tandem. The first is the water gas shift reaction involving the oxidation of CO to CO₂ with the simultaneous formation of dihydrogen. The second catalytic procedure involves the gas-phase partial oxidation of methane and ethane to form aldehyde by dioxygen. The yield of oxygenates from methane is over 11%. The yield of oxygenates from ethane is higher (> 24%). The same C₁ product (formaldehyde) is obtained from both methane and ethane. Thus, the prior separation of the latter alkane is not required for this process. In the context of partial oxidation of methane to oxygenates by dioxygen, there are few other system in the open literature that simultaneously exhibits such high conversion and selectivity.