Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 3, 2026

Methane Hydrate Crystallization on Sessile Water Droplets
Published on: May 26, 2021
Methane Hydration-Shell Structure and Fragility
Xiangen Wu1, Wanjun Lu2, Louis M Streacker3
1College of Marine Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China.
Abstract:
The influence of oily molecules on the structure of liquid water is a question of importance to biology and geology and many other fields. Previous experimental, theoretical, and simulation studies of methane in liquid water have reached widely conflicting conclusions regarding the structure of hydrophobic hydration-shells. Herein we address this question by performing Raman hydration-shell vibrational spectroscopic measurements of methane in liquid water from -10 °C to 300 °C (at 30 MPa, along a path that parallels the liquid-vapor coexistence curve). We show that, near ambient temperatures, methane's hydration-shell is slightly more tetrahedral than pure water. Moreover, the hydration-shell undergoes a crossover to a more disordered structure above ca. 85 °C. Comparisons with the crossover temperature of aqueous methanol (and other alcohols) reveal the stabilizing influence of an alcohol OH head-group on hydrophobic hydration-shell fragility.
Related Concept Videos
Hydration of Cement
Aqueous Solutions and Heats of Hydration
When ionic compounds dissolve in water, the ions in the solid separate and disperse uniformly throughout the solution because water molecules surround and solvate the ions, reducing the strong electrostatic forces between them. This process...
Strength and Heat of Hydration
The heat of hydration for each cement compound is significant; for instance, tricalcium aluminate (C3A) and...
Acid-Catalyzed Hydration of Alkenes
Regioselectivity and Stereochemistry of Acid-Catalyzed Hydration
Aldehydes and Ketones with Water: Hydrate Formation
The formation of hydrates is a reversible reaction. Hydrate formation is influenced by steric and electronic factors accompanying the alkyl substituents on the carbonyl group: The rate of hydrate formation increases with a decrease in the number of alkyl groups attached to the carbonyl carbon. Hence,...

