Oxygenation of methane into methanol with organocobalt complexes under ambient conditions

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K13964
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Inorganic chemistry
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Ohkubo Kei 大阪大学, 先導的学際研究機構, 教授 (00379140)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: メタン / 酸化反応 / 空気酸化 / ラジカル / メタノール / 天然ガス / 二酸化塩素 / 光反応

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Chlorine dioxide radical (ClO2) was found to act as an efficient oxidizing agent in the aerobic oxygenation of methane to methanol and formic acid under photoirradiation. Photochemical oxygenation of methane occurred in a two-phase system comprising perfluorohexane and water under ambient conditions (298 K, 1 atm). The yields of methanol and formic acid were 14% and 85%, respectively, with a methane conversion of 99% without formation of the further oxygenated products such as CO2 and CO. Ethane was also　photochemically converted into ethanol (19%) and acetic acid (78%). The methane oxygenation is initiated by the photochemical Cl-O bond cleavage of ClO2 to generate Cl and O2. The produced Cl reacts with CH4 to form a methyl radical (CH3). Finally, the oxygenated products such as methanol and formic acid were given by the radical chain reaction.

Free Research Field

光化学