Dissociative methane adsorption onto a transition metal has a low sticking coefficient. Under mild conditions alkenes have a very high reactivity with respect to transition metal surfaces. Mainly for these reasons direct homologation of alkenes with methane, catalysed by transition metals has not yet been realized, while indirect conversion routes have very low selectivities. 1.2 Using solid superacids under mild conditions, methane has been shown to add to ethylene ...