Highly efficient vanadium-catalyzed transformation of CH4 and CO to aceticacid

[GRAPHICS] The VO(acac)(2) (acac = 2,4-pentanedionato) catalyst in the presence of K2S 2O8 and CF3COOH has been found to efficiently transform methane and CO to a cetic acid selectively. The reaction of methane (5 atm) with CO (20 atm) at 80 degrees C for 20 h gives acetic acid in 93% yield based on methane, Oth er vanadium compounds such as V2O3, V2O5, and NaVO3 and various vanadium co ntaining heteropolyacids such as H5PV2Mo10O40, H4PVW11O40, and H5SiVW11O40 also work as catalysts.