Molecule
Name
Formaldehyde
IUPAC name
Formaldehyde
Secondary names
Methylene glycol, Methanal, Methyl aldehyde, Methylene oxide, Formol, Formic aldehyde, H2CO
InChI
InChI=1S/CH2O/c1-2/h1H2
InChI key
WSFSSNUMVMOOMR-UHFFFAOYSA-N
CAS number
50-00-0
Comments
natural $H_2CO$
Formula
$H_2CO$
Chemical formula
H2CO
Structural formula
[CH2]=[O]
Charge
0
Unpaired electrons
0
  Atom Name Number
$C$ Carbon 1
$O$ Oxygen 1
$H$ Hydrogen 2
Relations
  • no
Isotope mixture type
terrestrial abundance
Spin type
equilibrated
Molar mass
30.026 $g/mol$
State STP
gas
Protic
protic
Polarity
polar
Dipole
2.332 $D$
Molecule symmetry
C2v
Case
nonlinear-polyatomic
Vibrations number
6
Vibrations
Label Mode Bond Symmetry Degeneracy Fundamental frequency Observed frequency Observed frequency Harmonic frequency Activity IR Activity Raman Strength Comments
V1 stretching sym. $>C<H_2$ $A_{1}$ no 2782.0 2782.5 active active s Raman: 2781.6 $cm^{-1}$ (gas)
V2 stretching $>C=O$ $A_{1}$ no 1746.0 1746.1 active active vs Raman: 1742.3 $cm^{-1}$ (gas)
V3 bending sym. in-p (scissoring) $>C<H_2$ $A_{1}$ no 1500.0 1500.1 active active s Raman: 1499.7 $cm^{-1}$ (gas)
V4 stretching asym. $>C<H_2$ $B_{1}$ no 2843.0 2843.1 active active vs Raman: 2866 $cm^{-1}$ (gas)
V5 bending asym. in-p (rocking) $>C<H_2$ $B_{1}$ no 1249.0 1249.1 active active s
V6 bending sym. out-p (wagging) $>C<H_2$ $B_{2}$ no 1167.0 1167.3 active active s
Comments
Vibrations of the main isotope: $^1H_2^{12}C^{16}O$. Data from NIST Chemistry WebBook
Publications
Chemical functions
  Function Number
$R=CH_2$ 1
Chemical bonds
  Bond Number
$\eqslantgtr C-H$ 2
$>C=O$ 1