Ammonium formate first dissociates into formic acid and ammonia. Formic acids and alkenes readily react to form formate esters. The primary components are copper salts of acetate, carbonate, chloride, formate, hydroxide and sulfate. A formate (compound) is a salt or ester of formic acid. These compounds include methanol, methyl amines, formaldehyde, and formate. The urticating hair of stinging nettles contain sodium formate as well as formic acid. With sodium hydroxide, DMF converts to formate and dimethylamine. Acetogenic bacteria oxidize the acids, obtaining more acetate and either hydrogen or formate. When heated, ammonium formate eliminates water, forming formamide. Efficient hydrolysis of methyl formate requires a large excess of water. Some microorganisms utilize selenium in formate dehydrogenase. There exist natural microbes that can feed on formic acid or formate (see Methylotroph). Nitric oxide can also react directly with sodium methoxide, forming sodium formate and nitrous oxide. He deduced its structure from the already known analogue reaction of ammonium formate yielding formonitrile. Ethyl formate is found in some confectionaries.