Sodium formate, HCOONa, is the sodium salt of formic acid, HCOOH. It usually appears as a white deliquescent powder.
Uses: Sodium formate is used in several fabric dyeing and printing processes. It is also used as a buffering agent for strong mineral acids to increase their pH.
Preparation: Sodium formate can be prepared in the laboratory by neutralizing formic acid with sodium carbonate. It can also be obtained by reacting chloroform with an alcoholic solution of sodium hydroxide.
The latter method is generally preferred to the former because the low aqueous solubility of CHCl3 makes it easier to separate out from the sodium formate solution, by fractional crystallization, than the soluble NaCl would be.
Commercially sodium formate is produced by absorbing carbon monoxide under pressure in solid sodium hydroxide at 160 ° C
Sodium formate may also be created via the haloform reaction between ethanol and sodium hypochlorite in the presence of a base. This procedure is well-documented for the preparation of chloroform.