66 GIBBS. 
formaldehyde without the aid of external energy. The principal reaction 
CH;,OH — HCHO + H:z is not reversible under the described conditions. 
Since it is well known that formaldehyde is oxidized to formic 
acid by hydrogen peroxide, it seems at first thought, that the 
detection of formaldehyde, an intermediate product of the action 
of hydrogen peroxide on methyl alcohol, would offer some 
difficulties. My experience has been quite to the contrary. 
According to Blank and Finkenbeiner,*® hydrogen peroxide in 
alkaline solution, in the cold, acts on formaldehyde according to 
the equation, 
2HCHO + 2NaOH + H,0, — 2H. COONa + H, +2H,0. 
Kastle and Loevenhart* found that hydrogen peroxide oxidized formal- 
dehyde to formic acid with extreme slowness at ordinary temperatures 
but with great velocity at the temperature of boiling water. They cal- 
culated the reaction velocities at 20°, 26°, 40°, 50°, 60°, 70°, 80°, 90°, and 
98°. Light accelerated the reaction. 
Lyford” found that formaldehyde was completely destroyed by neutral 
hydrogen peroxide solution at elevated temperatures, formic acid being 
the principal product. The latter is only intermediary. This compound 
is further acted on with the production of carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and 
water. 
Loevenhart and Kastle ** four years later state: 
‘1. That in the absence of formic acid the oxidation of formic aldehyde 
by hydrogen peroxide is greatly accelerated by finely divided platinum. 
“2. That, whereas, formic aldehyde is much more easily oxidized by 
hydrogen peroxide alone than formic acid, the latter is about twice as 
readily oxidized as the former by hydrogen peroxide when platinum is 
present; and that when a mixture of the acid and aldehyde are present 
in equal quantities with spongy platinum and a quality of hydrogen 
peroxide sufficient to oxidize either but not both, to the next higher state 
of oxidation, the acid is oxidized almost to the exclusion of the aldehyde.” 
My experiments show that formaldehyde is formed on treating 
methyl alcohol with hydrogen peroxide and, even though formic 
acid is also formed, the formaldehyde increases as the oxidation 
proceeds. The temperature is an important factor in the speed 
of the reaction and, while I have not worked below room tem- 
peratures, I see no reason for doubting and many reasons for 
believing that the action proceeds at lower temperatures. 
EXPERIMENTAL. 
Two different makes of hydrogen peroxide were employed in 
the following work. One, from E. Merck, Darmstadt, contained 
“ Ber. d. deutschen chem. Ges. (1899), 31, 2979. 
™ Journ Am. Chem. Soc. (1899), 21, 262. 
* Journ. Am. Chem. Soc. (1907), 29, 1281. 
"Am. Chem. Journ. (1903), 29, 482. 
