Back Cover: Optimal Water Coverage on Alumina: A Key to Generate Lewis Acid-Base Pairs that are Reactive Towards the CH Bond Activation of Methane (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 14/2011)

Abstract

In small amounts, water, which would be expected to poison the Lewis acid defect sites of γ-alumina, in fact stabilizes its most reactive face and increases the basicity of the surface oxygen atoms. As C. Copéret, P. Sautet et al. describe in their Communication on page 3202 ff., low levels of hydration facilitates the CH bond breaking of methane.