Methanol(2597-43-5) is a toxic chemical with chemical formula CH₃OH and also known as methyl alcohol, carbinol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits.

However,pure methanol(2597-43-5) , was first isolated in 1661 by Robert Boyle, when he produced it via the distillation of boxwood. It later became known as pyroxylic spirit.
 In 1834, the French chemists Jean-Baptiste Dumas and Eugene Peligot determined its elemental composition.They also introduced the word methylene to organic chemistry, forming it from Greek methy = "wine" + h.lē = wood (patch of trees). Its intended origin was "alcohol made from wood (substance)", but it has Greek language errors. 
This was shortened to "methanol" in 1892 by the International Conference on Chemical Nomenclature.
 In 2006 astronomers using the MERLIN array of radio telescopes at Jodrell Bank Observatory discovered a large cloud of methanol in space, 300 billion miles across.

Pure Methanol(2597-43-5) has been used in open wheel auto racing since the mid-1960s.

Methanol(2597-43-5) is produced naturally in the anaerobic metabolism of many varieties of bacteria, and is ubiquitous in the environment. As a result, there is a small fraction of methanol vapor in the atmosphere. During the course of several days, atmospheric methanol is oxidized by oxygen with the help of sunlight to carbon dioxide and water.Methanol burns in air forming carbon dioxide and water:

2 CH₃OH + 3 O₂ → 2 CO₂ + 4 H₂O
It is now produced synthetically by a multi-step process: natural gas or coal gas and steam are reformed in a furnace to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide; then, hydrogen and carbon monoxide gases react under pressure in the presence of a catalyst. Methanol(2597-43-5)  is also produced from the gasification of a range of renewable biomass materials, such as wood and black liquor from pulp and paper mills.
 

Methanol(2597-43-5) is toxic. Methanol(2597-43-5) is toxic by two mechanisms. Firstly, Methanol(2597-43-5) (whether it enters the body by ingestion, inhalation, or absorption through the skin) can be fatal due to its CNS depressant properties in the same manner as ETHANOL poisoning. Secondly, in a process of toxication, it is metabolised to FORMIC ACID (which is present as the formate ion) via FORMALDEHYDE in a process initiated by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase in the liver.