An existing chemistry for the selective oxidation of methane to methanol is the
homogeneous platinum (II)-based Shilov system, but limiting its practical implementation is
its use of platinum (IV) as the terminal stoichiometric oxidant. However, an examination of
the Shilov cycle suggests that electrochemical regeneration of the Pt (IV) oxidant would
allow for the system to be catalytic in platinum. We demonstrate that through judicious
selection of applied electrical bias to near the initial open circuit potential of the reaction …