Now, Wang et al. obtain environment friendly catalytic oxidation of methane to methanol utilizing molecular oxygen in an aqueous medium and within the presence of carbon monoxide (CO). They examine varied monometallic noble metallic catalysts, together with Au, Rh, Pd and Ir, supported on mordenite (H-MOR, a kind of zeolite), and uncover that the H-MOR-supported monometallic Au catalyst displays the best exercise and selectivity within the partial oxidation of CH₄ to CH₃OH. The methanol productiveness reaches 1,300 μmol g_cat⁻¹ h⁻¹ or 280 mmol g_Au⁻¹ h⁻¹ with 75% selectivity, outperforming the state-of-the-art Au–Pd alloy catalyst beneath comparable situations.