Zhang Xiaoping, Su Rui, Duan Minmin, Chen Xuwen, Jia Bin, Chingin Konstantin, Balabin Roman, Wang Jiang, Zhang Wenbo, Zhang Xinglei, Chen Huanwen
Cancer Research Center, The Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory for Diagnosis, Treatment, and Rehabilitation of Cancer in Chinese Medicine, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, P. R. China.
Jiangxi Key Laboratory for Mass Spectrometry and Instrumentation, East China University of Technology, Nanchang 330013, P. R. China.
Sci Adv. 2025 Aug;11(31):eadw0584. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adw0584. Epub 2025 Jul 30.
Methane combustion contributes 30% to global warming, making its conversion to cleaner chemicals a critical challenge. Here, we report a catalyst-free ambient conversion of methane to methanol with a remarkable yield exceeding 650 millimoles per hour and a high conversion rate of ~35%, achieved using in situ-generated water dimer radical cations, [Formula: see text] , in a specially designed batch reactor operating under mild conditions. In a single run, the reactor was typically operated for 10 minutes. The atom efficiency for hydrogen in our approach for methanol synthesis is ~67%. Hydrogen gas is the by-product, produced at a rate of over 2 millimoles per hour. Compared to the previously reported catalytic methods, our production yields are up by between 10 and 10 times depending on the literature method. This breakthrough enables clean, energy-efficient methane conversion without unwanted oxidation by-products, offering substantial environmental and economic benefits beyond combustion.
甲烷燃烧对全球变暖的贡献率达30%，因此将其转化为更清洁的化学品是一项严峻挑战。在此，我们报告了一种在温和条件下运行的特制间歇式反应器中，利用原位生成的水二聚体自由基阳离子[化学式：见原文]实现的无催化剂环境下甲烷向甲醇的转化，其产率显著超过每小时650毫摩尔，转化率高达约35%。单次运行中，该反应器通常运行10分钟。我们合成甲醇方法中氢的原子效率约为67%。氢气是副产物，产生速率超过每小时2毫摩尔。与先前报道的催化方法相比，根据文献方法，我们的产量提高了10到100倍。这一突破实现了清洁、节能的甲烷转化，且无有害氧化副产物，除燃烧外还带来了巨大的环境和经济效益。
