Interesting Facts About Formic Acid

Formic acid scientifically called methanoic acid is the simplest form of carboxylic acid and also a aldehyde, Its chemical blueprint is HCOOH or HCO2H. Its name derives from the Latin expression for ant, which is formica, because of its early isolation by the refinement of ant bodies. It can be naturally accessed in the toxin of bees and ant stings and is also an important element in chemical synthesisand salt can be obtained from it named formate.

Formic acid is mainly used in the food production as a additive and germicidal solution in livestock provisions. It also used for applying on fresh hay or other silage, to eradicate certain decay agents and cause the provision to further retain its nutritional properties, so it is estensively used to maintain winter feed for cattle. It is regularly applied to chicken feed to exterminate salmonella bacteria.

Outside of the food industry Formic acid is also used within the chemical industry as a chief source for a formyl group for example in the formylation of methylaniline to N-methylformanilide in toluene and in synthetic organic chemistry, as a source of hydride ion and also as a originator of hydrogen in the hydrogenation process. It is used to fabricate organic latex into raw rubber. Beekeepers use formic acid as a pesticide against the Tracheal (Acarapis woodi) mite and the Varroa mite. It is also used in the textile business for tanning leather. Some formate esters are artificial enhancers or perfumes as well as an effective ingredient in some brands of domestic lime scale remover. It is used in research centers as a solution modifier for HPLC and CE isolation of peptides and proteins, especially when the sample is being prepared for mass spectrometry analysis. Formic acid has also been reportedly used to make fuel cells.

Like formic acid, another substance called oxalic acid can be used by beekeepers as a pesticide against the parasitic Varroa mite. Oxalic acid is a chemical substance known as a dicarboxylic acid which is a colorless solid that is about 3,000 times stronger than acetic acid. Oxalic acid is typically found as the dihydrate and along with oxalates are found plentiful in many plants. Oxalic acid's is main used as a cleaning or bleaching solution, mainly for pulpwood and for the extraction of rust or iron from minerals specimens. Many domestic chemical produce contain oxalic acid, especially rust proofing treatments. About 25% of the oxalic acid produced is used as a mordant in the dyeing processes. Oxalic acid is also an essential solution in lanthanide chemistry.

Oxalic acid is also utilized for restoring old wood. It is used for its reducing properties in platinotype and the premature photographic platinum/palladium printing practice. Six percent of oxalic acid, called vaporized oxalic acid, is used in sugar syrup. Hydrated lanthanide oxalates forms rapidly in strongly acid agent in a densely crystalline easily filtered form, largely free from contamination by non-lanthanide elements. When lanthanide oxalates is ignited and metal oxalates decomposes it is transformed to the oxides, which are the most common form in which the lanthanides are sold.

The primary health risk of formic acid is contact on skin and eye from concentrated vapor or fluid. Most of formic acid is not inflammable and diluted formic acid is on Americas Food and Drug Administration list of food preservatives. Formic acid can be easily metabolized and secreted by the internal system even though its poisons can still cause effects. The formic acid and formaldehyde developed as metabolites of methanol are responsible for optic nerve damage which causes blindness seen in methanol poison. There are also a number of chronic effects associated with formic acid displayed in experiments which have demonstrated as a mutagen. Chronic exposure may ultimately cause liver or kidney damage and skin reactions that manifest upon re-exposure to the chemical.