During the period 1847–1849, in an effort to vindicate the radical theory of organic chemistry, Hermann Kolbe and Edward Frankland produced ethane by the reductions of propionitrile (ethyl cyanide) and ethyl iodide with potassium metal, and, as did Faraday, by the electrolysis of aqueous acetates.
Ker je zamenjal ogljikovodikov produkt te raztopine za metan, je prenehal z nadaljnjimi raziskavami.