Comment on "Activation of methane to CH3 +: A selective industrial route to methanesulfonic acid".

Published in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2019)

Díaz-Urrutia and Ott (Reports, 22 March 2019, p. 1326) report a selective conversion of methane to methanesulfonic acid that is proposed to occur by a cationic chain reaction in which CH3 + adds to sulfur trioxide (SO3) to form CH3-S(O)2O+ This mechanism is not plausible because of the solvent reactivity of CH3 +, the non-nucleophilicity of the sulfur atom of SO3, and the high energy of CH3-S(O)2O<sup/>.

Keyphrases

room temperature
ionic liquid
anaerobic digestion
heavy metals
wastewater treatment
risk assessment
electron transfer