Other formaldehyde derivatives include methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, an important component in polyurethane paints and foams, and hexamine, which is used in phenol-formaldehyde resins and to make the explosive RDX.
Formaldehyde is also used as a detergent in RNA gel electrophoresis, preventing RNA from forming secondary structures.
People with formaldehyde allergy are advised to avoid formaldehyde-releasing chemicals as well (e.g., Quaternium-15, imidazolidinyl urea, and diazolidinyl urea).
Formaldehyde based solutions are used in embalming to disinfect and temporarily preserve human remains pending final disposition.
Formaldehyde, along with 18 M (concentrated) sulfuric acid (the entire solution often called the Marquis reagent) is used as an MDMA "testing kit."
Small amounts of formaldehyde are produced as a metabolic byproduct in most organisms, including humans.
Most formaldehyde is used in the production of polymers and other chemicals.
Laboratory animals exposed to large doses of inhaled formaldehyde over their lifetimes have developed more cancers of the nose and throat than are usual, as have workers in particle-board sawmills.
The allergenic effect of formaldehyde can be worsened by the presence of particles or dust (for example, wood dust), that trigger bronchial reactions even at concentrations below 2 ppm.
Formaldehyde was first synthesized by the Russian chemist Aleksandr Butlerov in 1859 but was conclusively identified by August Wilhelm von Hofmann in 1868.
An aqueous solution of formaldehyde can be used as a disinfectant as it kills most bacteria and fungi (including their spores).
Formaldehyde is also used to make numerous other chemicals, used in personal care products such as toothpaste.
Formaldehyde can cause allergies, and is part of the standard patch test series.
Skin sensitization is likely to appear after contact with aqueous solutions of formaldehyde at concentrations equal to or greater than 2%, or even solids or resins containing free formaldehyde.
Formaldehyde readily results from the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing materials.
Formaldehyde is usually sold as a saturated aqueous solution with concentration of around 37 percent formaldehyde, stabilized with 10-15 percent methanol.
Formaldehyde is primarily used to produce glues used in the manufacture of particleboard, veneers, wood furniture and other wood products.
Formaldehyde is converted to formic acid in the body, leading to a rise in blood acidity (acidosis), rapid, shallow breathing, blurred vision or complete blindness, hypothermia, and, in the most severe cases, coma or death.
Formaldehyde is classified as a probable human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and as having sufficient evidence that formaldehyde causes nasopharyngeal cancer in humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
When someone is sensitized, skin allergy (erythema) symptoms may occur at every contact with solutions of increasingly lower concentration (starting at 0.5 percent formaldehyde).
Large formaldehyde exposures, for example from drinking formaldehyde solutions, are potentially deadly.
Formaldehyde is also used in the manufacture of various plastics, some fertilizers, resins used in foundry sand moulds, and some paints and varnishes.
When combined with phenol, urea, or melamine, formaldehyde produces a hard thermoset resin.
At concentrations above 0.1 ppm in air, formaldehyde can irritate the eyes and mucous membranes, resulting in watery eyes.
Production of formaldehyde resins accounts for more than half of formaldehyde consumption.
The chemical compound formaldehyde (also known as methanal) is a gas with a pungent smell.
Formaldehyde exhibits most of the chemical properties of the aldehydes, except that it is more reactive.
Formaldehyde preserves or fixes tissue or cells by irreversibly cross-linking primary amine groups in proteins with other nearby nitrogen atoms in protein or DNA through a -CH2- linkage.