Methanol

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Monohydric alcohol (also carbinol, methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood spirit) is a colourless, burning-tasting liquid with an unmistakable, sweetish odour. Although it differs significantly from ethanol (drinking alcohol), it can hardly be recognised in terms of taste due to superimposition with other aromatic substances in alcoholic beverages. The ancient Egyptians already produced methanol by pyrolysis (splitting of organic compounds by high temperatures from 200 °C) of wood and embalmed their dead with a substance mixture. The name "methylene" was given to it in 1834 by the French chemists Jean-Baptiste Dumas and Eugène-Melchior Péligot; it is composed of "méthy" for wine and "hylé" for wood. Methanol itself is of low toxicity, but its metabolic products are toxic, especially formaldehyde (methanal).

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Methanol

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