Direct methane to methanol conversion

The world's resources in methane are currently grossly underutilized, mainly due to a lack of efficient low temperature catalytic processes to convert the methane to transportable liquid forms. The chemistry of C-H functionalization, i.e. the activation and subsequent transformation to a C-X bond, has not yet been advanced to a commercially viable system. C-H activation catalyzed by PtCl₄^2- in H₂SO₄ with imidazolium (HIM) based ionic liquid additives was studied. A double-charged double ion pair [PtCl₄^2-][HIM]₂ as the possible active catalytic species. Computational results showed the formation energy of this strong ion pair (from PtCl₂ + 2[HIM][Cl]) was -68.3 kcal/mole, which is sufficient for dissolving solid PtCl₂ in concentrated H₂SO₄. The result was consistent with experimental observation, which also showed that PtCl₂ cannot dissolve in neat concentrated H₂SO₄. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the AIChE Spring National Meeting (Houston, TX 4/22-27/2007).