Paraformaldehyde

₦70,000Negotiable

Description

Paraformaldehyde is the informal name of polyoxymethylene, a polymer of formaldehyde (also known by many other and confusing names, such as ‘paraform’, ‘formagene’, ‘para’, ‘polyoxymethane’). It is slowly formed as a white precipitate by condensation from the predominant species methanediol (formaldehyde hydrate) in solutions of formaldehyde (which may also be called ‘formalin’, ‘formal’, or ‘formalose’) on standing, in an equilibrium (Fig. 3.1). The solution is predominantly of oligomers, but when n becomes large enough the material becomes sufficiently insoluble as to precipitate, when the condensation may still continue. The resulting solid may have n range from ~ 8 to 100, or more. The reaction is driven to the left, to release formaldehyde, by a low concentration of formaldehyde, and accelerated by acidic or alkaline conditions. Solid paraformaldehyde smells plainly of the monomer (b.p. - 21 °C), so it is essentially a convenient means of delivering formaldehyde slowly.