{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,19]],"date-time":"2026-04-19T17:08:46Z","timestamp":1776618526303,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":59,"publisher":"American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)","issue":"31","content-domain":{"domain":["www.science.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Sci. Adv."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n            Methane combustion contributes 30% to global warming, making its conversion to cleaner chemicals a critical challenge. Here, we report a catalyst-free ambient conversion of methane to methanol with a remarkable yield exceeding 650 millimoles per hour and a high conversion rate of ~35%, achieved using in situ\u2013generated water dimer radical cations,\n            <jats:inline-formula>\n              <mml:math xmlns:mml=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1998\/Math\/MathML\" display=\"inline\" overflow=\"scroll\">\n                <mml:mrow>\n                  <mml:msubsup>\n                    <mml:mrow>\n                      <mml:mo stretchy=\"true\">(<\/mml:mo>\n                      <mml:msub>\n                        <mml:mi mathvariant=\"normal\">H<\/mml:mi>\n                        <mml:mn>2<\/mml:mn>\n                      <\/mml:msub>\n                      <mml:mi mathvariant=\"normal\">O<\/mml:mi>\n                      <mml:mo stretchy=\"true\">)<\/mml:mo>\n                    <\/mml:mrow>\n                    <mml:mn>2<\/mml:mn>\n                    <mml:mrow>\n                      <mml:mo>+<\/mml:mo>\n                      <mml:mo>\u00b7<\/mml:mo>\n                    <\/mml:mrow>\n                  <\/mml:msubsup>\n                <\/mml:mrow>\n              <\/mml:math>\n            <\/jats:inline-formula>\n            \u200a, in a specially designed batch reactor operating under mild conditions. In a single run, the reactor was typically operated for 10 minutes. The atom efficiency for hydrogen in our approach for methanol synthesis is ~67%. Hydrogen gas is the by-product, produced at a rate of over 2 millimoles per hour. Compared to the previously reported catalytic methods, our production yields are up by between 10\n            <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n            and 10\n            <jats:sup>6<\/jats:sup>\n            times depending on the literature method. This breakthrough enables clean, energy-efficient methane conversion without unwanted oxidation by-products, offering substantial environmental and economic benefits beyond combustion.\n          <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.adw0584","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,30]],"date-time":"2025-07-30T17:59:27Z","timestamp":1753898367000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.34133\/aaas_crossmark","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Ambient catalyst-free conversion of methane to methanol by water radical cations"],"prefix":"10.1126","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5505-3578","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Xiaoping","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Cancer Research Center, The Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory for Diagnosis, Treatment, and Rehabilitation of Cancer in Chinese Medicine, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, P. R. China."},{"name":"Jiangxi Key Laboratory for Mass Spectrometry and Instrumentation, East China University of Technology, Nanchang 330013, P. R. China."}]},{"given":"Rui","family":"Su","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cancer Research Center, The Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory for Diagnosis, Treatment, and Rehabilitation of Cancer in Chinese Medicine, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, P. R. China."},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, P. R. China."}]},{"given":"Minmin","family":"Duan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Key Laboratory for Mass Spectrometry and Instrumentation, East China University of Technology, Nanchang 330013, P. R. 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China."}]},{"given":"Xinglei","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Key Laboratory for Mass Spectrometry and Instrumentation, East China University of Technology, Nanchang 330013, P. R. China."}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0576-0415","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Huanwen","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cancer Research Center, The Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory for Diagnosis, Treatment, and Rehabilitation of Cancer in Chinese Medicine, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, P. R. 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