One is Lonely and Three is a Crowd: Two Coppers Are for Methane Oxidation

摘要

Mild activation of inert C-H bonds attracts increasingly feverish research efforts as the global predicament of dwindling resources grows increasingly dire. The desirability of methane as a chemical feedstock presents itself in this context: Functionalization of this simplest hydrocarbon would unlock the world's reserves of natural gas for the synthesis of necessary chemicals from this abundant C1 building block. However, with a C—H bond strength of 104 kcalmol~(-1), methane possesses the most difficult hydrocarbon bond to oxidize. Current industrial methods for converting methane into useful chemical products incur prohibitive energy costs and lack selectivity.