A water-tolerant, active and high-selective palladium catalyst, (2,2'-bipyridine) dichloropalladium(II) is proposed for the oxidation of methane to a methanol derivative with molecular oxygen as the oxidant at temperatures below 120 A degrees C, and its activity can be increased by three times at 100 A degrees C when the volume ratio of water to CF3COOH solvent is 1:5. In addition, the addition of perfluorooctane can enhance the yield of methanol further.