Pyridine N -Oxide-Promoted Cobalt-Catalyzed Dioxygen-Mediated Methane Oxidation.

The partial oxidation of methane with O 2 is significant due to its potential of providing abundant chemical feedstock. Only a few examples realized this type of reaction in homogeneous solvent systems, most of which are in low efficiency. Herein, we present a pyridine N -oxide-promoted cobalt-catalyzed O 2 -mediated methane oxidation to produce methylene bis(trifluoroacetate) with productivity over 500 mol ester mol metal -1 h -1 .