title: Thermal conversion of methane to formaldehyde promoted by gold in AuNbO3(+) cluster cations.
abstract: In addition to generation of a methyl radical, formation of a formaldehyde molecule was observed in the thermal reaction of methane with AuNbO3(+) heteronuclear oxide cluster cations. The clusters were prepared by laser ablation and mass-selected to react with CH4 in an ion-trap reactor under thermal collision conditions. The reaction was studied by mass spectrometry and DFT calculations. The latter indicated that the gold atom promotes formaldehyde formation through transformation of an Au-O bond into an Au-Nb bond during the reaction.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, 381 Wushan Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510640 (P. R. China), Fax: (+86) 20-22236337.
authors.forename: Li-Na
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhen-Xun
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Xiao-Na
authors.initials: XN
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Tong-Mei
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Sheng-Gui
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: He
keywords: C1 building blocks; cluster compounds; density functional calculations; gold; mass spectrometry