methanol Chem.
(ˈmɛθənɒl)
[f. methane + -ol.]
Methyl alcohol, CH3OH, a colourless, volatile, poisonous liquid with a pungent odour which is produced mainly by the high-pressure reduction of carbon monoxide or dioxide with hydrogen and is used as an intermediate in the synthesis of formaldehyde, as a solvent, and as a denaturant for ethyl alcohol.
The adoption of methanol as the systematic name of methyl alcohol was a consequence of Resolution 15 (on alcohols and phenols) of the report of 1892 of the International Conference on Chemical Nomenclature (see Nature (1892) 19 May 58–9).
| 1894 G. M'Gowan tr. Bernthsen's Text-bk. Org. Chem. (ed. 2) 87 Methyl alcohol. [Note] ‘O[fficial] N[ame]’ Methanol. 1932 Discovery May 165/2 Besides its important use as a methylating agent, methanol is the raw material for formaldehyde. 1958 Times Rev. Industry Dec. 57/2 Refueller..designed for replenishing aircraft with..methanol. 1973 Daily Tel. 27 July 2/7 Hawkshaw..knew that methanol was an anti-freeze substance used on buses and for stripping paint and cleaning paintbrushes. |
Hence methaˈnolic a., in or of methanol.
| 1953 Jrnl. Polymer Sci. X. 375 The results of viscosity and molecular weight determination obtained in methanolic solution are presented in Figure 2. 1975 Nature 3 Jan. 8/1 Solvolysis of [{ob}(C5H5)2Ti{cb}2N2] with methanolic HCl yields mainly nitrogen. |