Bisulfate-mediated selective methane oxidation under mild aqueous conditions.

Methane can be selectively oxidized at room temperature and ambient pressure to methyl bisulfate and methanol using Cu powder and dilute H2SO4, with only trace CO2 formation.

• Why it matters: Efficient, mild-condition methane oxidation is challenging due to inert C–H bonds and over-oxidation risks, limiting practical applications in sustainable chemistry.
• What they did: The study employed in situ Raman spectroscopy and a system of Cu, O2, and H2SO4 to investigate methane oxidation, identifying a Cu2O surface as the active phase and bisulfate adsorption as key to selectivity.
• The result: This approach demonstrates a method for selective methane oxidation under mild aqueous conditions and offers mechanistic insights that could inform suppression of over-oxidation in other substrates.