Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.A detailed computational study on the reaction mechanisms of the thermal activation of methane by the bare complex [Ni(H)(OH)]+ has been conducted. The experimentally observed reaction features, i.e. the ligand exchange Ni(H) → Ni(CH3), the H/D scrambling between the incoming methane and the hydrido ligand of the nickel complex, the spectator-like behavior of the OH ligand, and the relatively moderate reaction efficiency of 6% relative to the collision rate of the ion/molecule reaction, can be explained by considering three competing mechanisms, and a satisfactory agreement between experiment and theory has been found.DFG, EXC 314, Unifying Concepts in Catalysi
