Scientists Turn Methane Gas Into Medicine Using Light

For the first time in history, scientists have turned one of Earth's most abundant gases into sophisticated medicine.

A team at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain has cracked a puzzle chemists have struggled with for decades. They figured out how to convert methane, the primary ingredient in natural gas, into valuable chemical building blocks for drugs and other products. The breakthrough could transform an energy source we typically burn into raw material for healing.

The achievement sounds almost magical. The researchers successfully created dimestrol, a hormone therapy medication, directly from methane. No one had ever made such a complex drug straight from natural gas before.

Methane is notoriously stubborn. Its molecules are so stable they barely react with anything, which is why we've mainly just burned it for fuel. That stability has kept scientists from using it as a sustainable manufacturing ingredient, even though it's cheap and plentiful.

Professor Martín Fañanás and his team designed a clever iron-based catalyst that solves this problem. The catalyst works like a skilled conductor, managing highly reactive particles so they transform the methane in exactly the right way. It attaches a small chemical handle to the gas molecule, giving chemists something they can build on to create medicines and industrial chemicals.

The secret lies in controlling unwanted side reactions. The team's specially designed catalyst uses a network of hydrogen bonds around an iron atom to guide the transformation precisely where it needs to go, avoiding the messy chlorination reactions that had plagued earlier attempts.

The process runs on LED light at relatively mild temperatures and pressures. It uses iron instead of rare, expensive metals like platinum or palladium. That combination makes the method far more environmentally friendly than traditional chemical manufacturing.

The Ripple Effect

This discovery opens doors beyond medicine. The same team recently published another method for converting natural gas components into industrial ketones in a single step. Together, these advances could gradually shift how we manufacture chemicals, moving away from traditional petrochemical processes.

The work, funded by the European Research Council, represents a major step toward what scientists call a circular chemical economy. Instead of burning fossil fuels and releasing greenhouse gases, we could transform them into useful products. That means getting more value from natural resources while reducing environmental impact.

The breakthrough demonstrates how creative chemistry can turn climate challenges into opportunities. Natural gas is already extracted worldwide. Finding sustainable ways to upgrade it into high-value products could reduce waste and create economic benefits alongside environmental ones.

The research strengthens Spain's position as a leader in innovative catalyst design and photochemistry. The CiQUS center has earned recognition from both the Galician government and European Union for research excellence with real-world applications.

Turning the fuel we burn into the medicine we need shows just how much untapped potential lies in rethinking our relationship with natural resources.