How to make Glycolaldehyde

[willferral]

Anyone know how to make Glycolaldehyde?  thanks

[TheVat]

Yep.  Are you interested in its theoretic role in abiogenesis?

[willferral]

No, I was looking to make a formaldehyde substitute.

[TheVat]

Do you know anything about GA toxicity, before you proceed?  Maybe Pirrung's Handbook would be helpful.  Vogel is also good, for procedures. 

Looks like GA has a lower vapor pressure than formaldehyde, so that's probably a good thing.

You can make it by oxidation of ethylene glycol - use hydrogen peroxide in the presence of iron(II) sulfate.  

Might want to review this, too:

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Glycolaldehyde

 

[willferral]

I can't find a lot of information on the toxicity of it, but what there is like on the link you gave shows it being very low toxicity.  I mix ethylene glycol with hydrogen peroxide and Iron (II) Sulfate?  Is it simple to make like Urea Formaldehyde, or does oxidation involve something else? If it's complicated or requires special equipment to make than it is beyond my ability.