ethers
Sign in to savethumb|150px|The general structure of an ether. R and R' represent most organyl [[substituents.]]
AI overview
Ethers are organic compounds made up of two carbon-containing groups connected by an oxygen atom. They're important in chemistry because they appear frequently in nature and in industrial applications, from medicines to solvents.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
19 sectionsContents
- History
- Structure and bonding
- Vinyl- and acetylenic ethers
- Nomenclature
- Trivial names
- Polyethers
- Related compounds
- Physical properties
- Cleavage
- Peroxide formation
- Lewis bases
- Alpha-halogenation
- Dehydration of alcohols
- Electrophilic addition of alcohols to alkenes
- Epoxides
- Williamson and Ullmann ether syntheses
- Important ethers
- See also
- References
thumb|150px|The general structure of an ether. R and R' represent most organyl [[substituents.]]
In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group, a single oxygen atom bonded to two separate carbon atoms, each part of an organyl group (e.g., alkyl or aryl). They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the organyl groups. Ethers can again be classified into two varieties: if the organyl groups are the same on both sides of the oxygen atom, then it is a simple or symmetrical ether, whereas if they are different, the ethers are called mixed or unsymmetrical ethers. A typical example of the first group is the solvent and anaesthetic diethyl ether, commonly referred to simply as "ether" (). Ethers are common in organic chemistry and even more prevalent in biochemistry, as they are common linkages in carbohydrates and lignin.