Computational study of methane to methanol conversion on metal oxide clusters

CHED 1377

Stephanie M. Braun, Adam D. Arnold, and Eric D. Glendening, glendening@indstate.edu. Department of Chemistry, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN 47809
Methane can undergo partial oxidation to methanol on small metal oxide cluster cations. We are using density functional calculations to examine the structure of the metal oxide cluster cations V2On+ and Nb2On+ (n=2-6) and the reactions of these clusters with methane. We report the structure and bonding characteristics of the clusters with comparisons to results of previous studies and summarize preliminary work on the reaction pathways for methane oxidation with several of the clusters.