By recreating extreme conditions that are found in the deep space -interstellar clouds, scientists have produced methanetetrol, or C (OH)4 – A 'super alcohol' that was theoretized for a long time, but never seen before.
This is not the type of alcohol that you can ask for in a cocktail: it is a very unstable molecule that consists of four hydroxyl groups (OH) with a single carbon atom. The existence was predicted for the first time more than a century ago.
To finally prove that prediction is correct, an international team of researchers artificially created space ice in a laboratory, whereby carbon dioxide and water are freezed into ultra-old temperatures in a vacuum.
Related: The largest alcohol molecule found in space is perhaps the key to star formation
By bombing this ice with high-energy rays to imitate the cosmic rays of stars and supernovae that kicked through the room kicking a chemical reaction that eventually led to methanetetrol.
“The detection of methanetetrol in space simulation experiments shows that the interstellar medium hosts an unexpected and counter-intuitive chemistry that requires scientific attention,” the researchers write in their published article.
It is a discovery that opens a wealth of new possibilities about the chemical reactions that can take place in deep space, including the ice -cold cold bundles of ice and fabric that are interstellar clouds that hang between stars.
The researchers heated the ice until Methanetetrol (bottom left) was detected. (Marks et al., Wet. Commun.2025)
If methanetetrol can form, which other 'impossible' molecules can be there? And how can this influence the chemistry and physics of the space that have already been explained in earlier research?
In particular, the researchers think that their findings can be vital in the future study of other life forms in the universe, and how they can start – not only through this molecule, but other what it can lead to us.
“The identification of this molecule represents a blind spot here and the lack of detection so far in the terrestrial environment is proof of the counter-intuitive chemistry of the interstellar medium and justification for the promotion,” the researchers write.
One of the following steps that are worth taking is to see if we can see methanetetrol in its natural habitat of deep space – because it is much too unstable to exist on earth. Thanks to this last research, astronomers now have a better idea of what they are looking for.
However, detecting is not easy. Methanetetrol breaks apart very quickly when it is hit with light, a process known as dissociative photoization, and the researchers could only catch a fleeting glimpse here.
There is much more to explore, and thanks to the progress in scientific techniques and telescopics we continue to get a better idea of what our own planet is outside. Indeed, only last year some of the same researchers discovered another 'impossible' molecule, called methanetriol.
It is becoming increasingly clear that chemistry in space is not the same as chemistry on earth. Some estimates even suggest that we have discovered only about 1 percent of the chemicals in space – but scientists are working hard on it.
“This work pushes the boundaries of what we know about chemistry in space,” says chemist Ralf Kaiser, from the University of Hawaiʻi in Mānoa.
The research has been published in Nature communication.
