Methoxymethanol is a chemical compound which is both anether and analcohol, ahemiformal.[1] The structural formula can be written as CH3OCH2OH. It has been discovered in space.[2]
Methoxymethanol forms spontaneously when a water solution offormaldehyde andmethanol are mixed.[3][1] or when formaldehyde is bubbled through methanol.[4]
In space methoxymethanol can form when methanol radicals (CH2OH or CH3O) react. These are radiolysis products derived when ultraviolet light or cosmic rays hit frozen methanol.[3]
Methanol can react withcarbon dioxide and hydrogen at 80°C and some pressure with a ruthenium or cobalt catalyst, to yield some methoxymethanol.[5]
^abMaiwald, Michael; Fischer, Holger H.; Ott, Michael; Peschla, Roger; Kuhnert, Christian; Kreiter, Cornelius G.; Maurer, Gerd; Hasse, Hans (January 2003). "Quantitative NMR Spectroscopy of Complex Liquid Mixtures: Methods and Results for Chemical Equilibria in Formaldehyde−Water−Methanol at Temperatures up to 383 K".Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.42 (2):259–266.doi:10.1021/ie0203072.
^abHays, Brian M.; Widicus Weaver, Susanna L. (6 May 2013). "Theoretical Examination of O(1D) Insertion Reactions to Form Methanediol, Methoxymethanol, and Aminomethanol".The Journal of Physical Chemistry A.117 (32):7142–7148.Bibcode:2013JPCA..117.7142H.doi:10.1021/jp400753r.PMID23646865.
^Celik, Fuat E.; Lawrence, Henry; Bell, Alexis T. (June 2008). "Synthesis of precursors to ethylene glycol from formaldehyde and methyl formate catalyzed by heteropoly acids".Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical.288 (1–2):87–96.doi:10.1016/j.molcata.2008.03.029.
