Cage occupancy of methane clathrate hydrates in the ternary H2O-NH3-CH4 system

Reply to the 'Comment on Cage occupancy of methane clathrate hydrates in the ternary H2O-NH3-CH4 system' by S. Alavi and J. Ripmeester, Chem. Commun., 2022, , DOI: 10.1039/D1CC06526B

Our recent Communication suggested that ammonia in aqueous solution may preferentially destabilize large cages in methane clathrate hydrates. A Comment favored ammonia incorporation instead, but it did not accurately describe our proposed mechanism and relied primarily on studies conducted in different chemical systems and/or which used other preparation methods.

Comment on “Cage occupancy of methane clathrate hydrates in the ternary H2O–NH3–CH4 system” by C. Petuya, M. Choukroun, T. H. Vu, A. Desmedt, A. G. Davies, and C. Sotin, Chem. Commun., 2020, , 12391

Alternative interpretations of the experimental results given in the cited Communication are presented. There is evidence that under certain conditions, ammonia can be incorporated into clathrate hydrate cages.