 For example, methyl alcohol was described as consisting of a methyl "radical" and a hydroxyl "radical".Neither are radicals in the modern chemical sense, as they are permanently bound to each other, and have no unpaired, reactive electrons; however, they can be observed as radicals in mass spectrometry when broken apart by irradiation with energetic electrons.In a modern context the first organic (carbon–containing) radical identified was triphenylmethyl radical, (C6H5)3C•.