Partial oxidation of methane to methanol is made possible with metal monoxide anions.

Previous calculations have shown that certain transition metal monoxide anions have an advantage in catalyzing the partial oxidation of CH4 to CH3OH, viz., MO- + CH4 → M- + CH3OH, because their anionic metal centers interact only weakly with the methanol product, thus preventing its over-oxidation to formaldehyde. In this study, the oxidation of methane to methanol by NiO- was demonstrated experimentally by cryo-trapping the neutral reaction products onto a substrate and then characterizing the eluded product via temperature-programmed desorption. This work both vindicates the previous calculations and presents a proof-of-principle example. Concurrent calculations showed this reaction to selectively form methanol to the detriment of other products.