Patent ID: 7285679

Claim:
A process for the oxidation of C 1 to C 5 alkanes comprising contacting the alkane with oxygen in the presence of a two component catalyst system said system comprising a first component which comprises a ligand co-ordinated heavy metal, where the heavy metal is selected from palladium, platinum, osmium, rhenium, indium, rhodium, ruthenium and gold and mixtures thereof, and the ligand is selected from N,N,N,N-tetramethylethylenediamine, bipyridine, 2,6-bis[1-2,6-di-I-propylphenyl-imino)ethyl]pyridine, 2,2 1 6 1 ,2 11 terpyridine and 1,2 bis (dimethyl phosphino) ethane and mixtures thereof; and a second component which comprises a mixed metal oxide, where the mixed metal oxide comprises a calcined composition of Mo a , V b , Ga c , Pd d , Nb e , and X f , wherein X=at least one element selected from the group consisting of La, Te, Ge, Zn, Si, In and W; a is 1; b is 0.01 to 0.9; c is >0 to 0.2; d is 0.0000001 to 0.2; e is >0 to 0.2; and f is >0 to 0.5.