Formaldehyde molecules in interstellar dust clouds condense on interstellar silicate grains as polyoxymethylene whiskers. A significant fraction of interstellar O and C atoms may be frozen onto grains in this form, and this material could be responsible for a major part of the observed extinction and polarization of starlight at optical wavelengths. Polyoxymethylene grains have a spectral band in the wavelength region from 8–12 µ, similar to that observed in stellar spectra.
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N. C. Wickramasinghe (1975) studied this question.