formaldehyden.
/fɔːˈmaldᵻhʌɪd/, /fəˈmaldᵻhʌɪd/, U.S. /fɔrˈmældəˌhaɪd/, /fərˈmældəˌhaɪd/ Chemistry.
A choking gas, CH2O, usually prepared as an aqueous solution, and used as a preservative, an antiseptic, and in large quantities as a raw material in the chemical and plastics industries.
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formaldehyde1872
methanal1894
1872 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 25 234 (heading) Reduction of formic acid to formaldehyde and methyl alcohol.
1873 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 26 885 Formaldehyde and Diphenyl yield a hydrocarbon which separates from chloroform in small crystals.
1894 Athenæum 11 Aug. 199/1 Last year a patent was granted for a solution of formaldehyde as a new antiseptic material, under the name of ‘formalin’.
1903 Brit. & Colonial Printer 19 Nov. 6/4 The glutinous material in the fabric is rendered insoluble by the formaldehyde treatment.
1929 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 212/1 Formaldehyde-phenolic resins.
1947 R. L. Wakeman Chem. Commercial Plastics iii. 28 Formaldehyde, made by oxidation of methanol, is an essential component of all of the large volume thermosetting resins now produced.
1957 New Scientist 9 May 11/2 Salk and his colleagues..had shown that poliomyelitis viruses could be grown in tissue culture in bulk and treated with formaldehyde to make a vaccine.
1958 Times Rev. Industry Feb. 77/1 Monsanto Chemicals (Australia) has announced that its latest formaldehyde unit will double the capacity of the plant laid down some years ago.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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