Aqueous Au-Pd colloids catalyze selective CH 4 oxidation to CH 3 OH with O 2 under mild conditions

A radical route from methane to methanol The conversion of methane into chemicals usually proceeds through high-temperature routes that first form more reactive carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Agarwal et al. report a low-temperature (50°C) route in aqueous hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) for oxidizing methane to methanol in high yield (92%). They used colloidal gold-palladium nanoparticles as a catalyst. The primary oxidant was O 2 ; isotopic labeling showed that H 2 O 2 activated methane to methyl radicals, which subsequently incorporated O 2 . Science , this issue p. 223