a white amorphous solid polymeric form of formaldehyde: used as a convenient source of formaldehyde and as a fumigant. Formula: (CH2O)n, where n lies between 6 and 50
paraformaldehyde in American English
(ˌpærəfɔrˈmældəˌhaid, -fər-)
noun
Chemistry
a white, crystalline polymer of formaldehyde, (HCOH)n, from which it is obtained by evaporation of the aqueous solution: used chiefly as an antiseptic
Also called: paraform (ˈpærəˌfɔrm)
Word origin
[1930–35; para-1 + formaldehyde]This word is first recorded in the period 1930–35. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: acoustic phonetics, cloverleaf, kickback, preset, uncertainty principlepara- is a prefix appearing in loanwords from Greek, most often attached to verbs and verbalderivatives, with the meanings “at or to one side of, beside, side by side” (parabola; paragraph; parallel; paralysis), “beyond, past, by” (paradox; paragogue); by extension from these senses, this prefix came to designate objects or activitiesauxiliary to or derivative of that denoted by the base word (parody; paronomasia), and hence abnormal or defective (paranoia), a sense now common in modern scientific coinages (parageusia; paralexia). As an English prefix, para- may have any of these senses; it is also productive in the naming of occupationalroles considered ancillary or subsidiary to roles requiring more training, or of ahigher status, on such models as paramedical and paraprofessional (paralegal; paralibrarian; parapolice)
Examples of 'paraformaldehyde' in a sentence
paraformaldehyde
No morphological alterations occured in oocysts after paraformaldehyde treatment.
José Rafael Módolo, Vicente Amato Neto, Lúcia Maria Almeida Braz, Carlos Alberto MagalhãesLopes, Arnold Frederico Gottschalk 1994, 'Avaliação da influência do formol e do hipoclorito de sódio na pesquisa de oocistosde Cryptosporidium nas fezes, através do método de heine', Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropicalhttp://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0037-86821994000200003. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
Paraformaldehyde has been used in the past as a pulpotomy agent.
Chi-hwan Lee, Yoorina Choi, Sujung Park 2016, 'Mandibular bone necrosis after use of paraformaldehyde-containing paste', Restorative Dentistry & Endodonticshttps://doi.org/10.5395/rde.2016.41.4.332. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
However, these studies are usually based on immunolocalization analysis involving paraformaldehyde fixation.
Man-Wah Li, Liang Zhou, Hon-Ming Lam 2015, 'Paraformaldehyde Fixation May Lead to Misinterpretation of the Subcellular Localizationof Plant High Mobility Group Box Proteins.', PLoS ONEhttp://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4535772?pdf=render. Retrieved from PLOS CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
The fixation with paraformaldehyde showed good results of tissues fixation.
M.M. Neves, D.B. Morais, L.P. Barbosa, M.G. Gomes, M.K. Balarine 2006, 'Preservação do sistema genital de chinchila (Chinchilla lanigera) para avaliação emmicroscopia de luz Preservation of chinchilla genital system (Chinchilla lanigera)for microscopic evaluation', Arquivo Brasileiro de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecniahttp://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-09352006000600042. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
The multistage combination of anaerobic and aerobic process was adopted to treat paraformaldehyde wastewater.
Danyang Zheng, Yujiao Sun, Huijuan Li, Sidan Lu, Mingjun Shan, Shangwei Xu 2016, 'Multistage A-O Activated Sludge Process for Paraformaldehyde Wastewater Treatmentand Microbial Community Structure Analysis', Journal of Chemistryhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/2746715. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
Cerebellar tissue was fixed with paraformaldehyde for later immunohistochemical analysis.
L.I. García, P. García-Bañuelos, G.E. Aranda-Abreu, G. Herrera-Meza, G.A. Coria-Avila,J. Manzo 2015, 'Activation of the cerebellum by olfactory stimulation in sexually naive male rats',Neurología (English Edition)http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2173580815000681. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)