Formaldehyde

Description

A flammable, colorless gas with a strong, suffocating odor. Formaldehyde was first synthesized in 1859. It occurs naturally in Coal and Wood smoke and as an outdoor Air pollutant in large cities. Formaldehyde is also found in indoor environments evolved items such as new Particle board, freshly laid carpet, Foam, adhesives, Insulation, and new fabrics. Formaldehyde is a powerful reducing agent reacts with many materials on contact. It will corrode metals. Formaldehyde is used as a Disinfectant, Fumigant, embalming fluid, tanning agent, and in durable press textile finishes. It is also used as an ingredient in some polymers, such as urea, phenolic, melamine, and acetal resins. Aqueous solutions containing 37% formaldehyde by weight (40% by volume) are commercially sold as Formalin. Formaldehyde can self-polymerize to form trioxane and Paraformaldehyde.

Synonyms and Related Terms

methanal (IUPAC); oxymethylene; formic aldehyde; oxomethane; methylene oxide; methyl aldehyde; metanal (Ces., Esp.); Formaldehyd (Dan., Deut., Nor., Pol., Sven.); formaldehído (Esp.); méthanal (Fr.); formaldéhyde (Fr.); formaldeide (It.); formaldehyde (Ned.); aldehyd mrówkowy (Pol.); formaldeído (Port.);

Aqueous solutions: Aqueos; formalin; formol; morbicid acid; Formaol; Veracur

Other Properties

Soluble in water.

Composition	HCHO
CAS	50-00-0
Melting Point	-92
Density	1.067
Molecular Weight	mol. wt. = 30.03
Boiling Point	-19

Hazards and Safety

Flammable. Flash point=-53C. It will corrode metals. Toxic by inhalation at 5ppm. Human carcinogen. Skin contact will cause irritation and burns.

Mallinckrodt Baker: MSDS

Additional Information

P.Hatchfield, Pollutants in the Museum Environment, Archetype, London, 2002.

Authority

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 342

• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982

• Pam Hatchfield, Pollutants in the Museum Environment, Archetype Press, London, 2002

• Hermann Kuhn, Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art and Antiquities, Butterworths, London, 1986

• S.R.Trotman, E.R. Trotman, Textile Analysis, J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1932

• Rosalie Rosso King, Textile Identification, Conservation, and Preservation, Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, NJ, 1985

• Michael McCann, Artist Beware, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York City, 1979

• The Merck Index, Martha Windholz (ed.), Merck Research Labs, Rahway NJ, 10th edition, 1983

• G.Caneva, M.P.Nugari, O.Salvadori, Biology in the Conservation of Works of Art, ICCROM, Rome, 1991

• Book and Paper Group, Paper Conservation Catalog, AIC, 1984, 1989

• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, at http://www.wikipedia.com Comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formaldehyde (Accessed Feb. 10, 2006) melting point -117C

• Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000