Conversion of methane to C2 liquid oxygenates by Ru atom arrays

The efficient conversion of methane to valuable C2 liquid oxygenates still remains silent. Here we show a new catalytic system of C-C coupling towards the C2 liquid oxygenates with high selectivity and productivity by the selective anchoring zero-valent ruthenium atoms from individual ones to two and three atoms in the electron-rich 18-carbon cavity of graphdiyne. Theoretical calculations demonstrate that Ru3-GDY supplies neighboring robust active sites to promote efficient C-C coupling to C2 liquid oxygenates, due to the p-d coupling resonance that guarantees the distributed charge among Ru3 sites resulting in active region to accelerate the methane oxidation. Our results show Ru atoms in GDY enable the highly efficient and selective activation of CH4 to the key ·CH3 and ·CH2OH intermediates, which allows the selective C-C coupling to gain C2 liquid oxygenates and shows the high selectivity (67%) and yields (7.25 mmol gcat−1 h−1) towards C2 liquid oxygenates. Atomic-level catalyst design faces challenges in methane activation and selective C–C coupling. Here, Ru atoms anchored on graphdiyne enhance methane oxidation, achieving high selectivity and yield for valuable C₂ liquid oxygenates.