An international team, including Ryan Fortenberry, an astrochemist at the University of Mississippi, Ralf Kaiser, a chemistry professor at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, and Alexander M. Mebel, a computational chemist at Florida International University, successfully synthesized methanetetrol for the first time. They reported their findings about the enigmatic compound in the journal Nature.
Image Credit: Outer Space/Shutterstock.com
This is essentially a prebiotic concentrate a seed of life molecule. It is something that can lead to more complex chemistry if given the opportunity. Think of it like an acorn that will grow into a tree in the Grove. The acorn alone cannot make a tree; it requires sunlight and water, and lots of other things. But it can be what starts the process.
Ryan Fortenberry, Astro Chemist, University of Mississippi
Methanetetrol is an ortho acid, a mysterious family of compounds that are notoriously difficult to isolate and investigate but are expected to play an important role in early life chemistry.
To simulate how methanetetrol could form in space, researchers froze water and carbon dioxide ice to near-absolute zero and subjected them to cosmic ray-like radiation. This procedure enabled them to release the molecule as a gas and identify it with intense ultraviolet light.
The detection of the only alcohol with four hydroxyl groups at the same carbon atom pushes the experimental and detection capabilities to the 'final frontier,' the next level beyond what could be accomplished before due to the lack of experimental and computational approaches.
Ralf Kaiser, Professor, Chemistry, University of Hawaii at Mānoa
Methanetetrol is highly unstable and likely to decompose unless stored under carefully controlled conditions. This instability stems from its high concentration of oxygen bonds. Oxygen atoms generally resist forming bonds in close proximity to other oxygens, making such structures energetically unfavorable.
“You have this compact, carbon-oxygen molecule that just really wants to go 'boom. And when it does, when you give it any kind of energy, you'll have water, hydrogen peroxide and a number of other potential compounds that are important for life. It is a like a prebiotic bomb,” Fortenberry explained.
According to the authors, if the molecule can develop in a lab, it can also form in space. For astrochemists searching for possible areas that may host life, this makes the compound more intriguing.
Fortenberry added, “While carbon is the building block of life, oxygen is what makes up nearly everything else. Oxygen is everywhere and is essential for life as we know it. So, if we can find places where methanetetrol forms naturally, we know that it is a place that has the potential building blocks to support life.”
This material is based on research funded by grants from the National Science Foundation (AST-2403867).
Journal Reference:
Marks, J. H., et al. (2025) Methanetetrol and the final frontier in ortho acids. Nature. doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61561-z.