Clathrate hydrate research is done by Professor Kend Janda at UC Irvine. Look up clathrate hydrate with a general internet search and in Odyssey (Applied Chemistry, #86 Clathrates). The ethyl (CH3CH2 –) end of the ethanol molecule (CH3CH2OH) is behaving much like the propane (CH3CH2CH3) and methane (CH4) gases that Prof. Janda\'s group uses to form clathrates. These hydrocarbons (propane, methane, and ethyl) are all nonpolar and, therefore, do not contain any significant dipoles. The _ creates a cage where the water is the _ for/of the hydrocarbon.

Clathrate hydrates are the crystalline water-based solids which physically resembles with the ice, in which the small non-polar molecules or smaller polar molecules with the large hydrophobic moieties are usually trapped inside the "cages" of the hydrogen bonded as well as frozen water molecules.

Clathrate hydrates are the clathrate compounds in which water creates the cage and the water behaves as a host molecule and guest molecule is typically a gas or liquid.