Direct Methane to Methanol Conversion: An Overview of Non-Syn Gas Catalytic Strategies.

Direct methane to methanol conversion is a dream reaction in industrial chemistry, which takes inspiration from the biological methanol production catalysed by methane monooxygenase enzymes (MMOs). Over the years, extensive studies have been conducted on this topic by bioengineering the MMOs, and tailoring methods to isolate the MMOs in the active form. Similarly, remarkable achievements have been noted in other methane activation strategies such as the use of heterogeneous catalysts or molecular catalysts.

Deciphering the effect of amine versus imine ligands of copper(II) complexes in 2-aminophenol oxidation.

A series of amine (1-6) and imine (5',6') based copper(II) complexes with tridentate (NNO) ligand donors were synthesized and characterized using modern analytical techniques. All the complexes were subjected to 2-aminophenol (OAP) oxidation to form 2-aminophenoxazin-3-one, as a functional analogue of an enzyme, phenoxazinone synthase. In addition, a critical comparison of the reactivity using the amine-based complexes with their respective imine counterparts was achieved in both experimental as well as theoretical studies.