Acyclic Ethers:There are two types of ethers: acyclic
and cyclic. This section will cover acyclic. For cyclic, click here.
Ethers are R-O-R'. The RO- is called the alkoxy group.
When you name alkoxides, replace the -ide with -y. For example, the C2H5
group is known as an ethyl- group. However, the C2H5O group is known
as the ethoxy- group. Below is a table with the most common oxy- groups
you'll find.
| Formula |
Functional Group Name |
| CH3O |
methoxy- |
| C2H5O |
ethoxy- |
| C3H7O |
propoxy- |
| C4H9O |
butoxy- |
| C5H11O |
pentoxy- |
Naming substituents in ethers
The longest parent chain is the ethane group. Thus the methyoxy- becomes the
substituent group. Hence, the name of this molecule is methyoxyethane. Try this molecule:
The parent chain will be the cyclohexane group. We have an ethyoxy group, so we get a
ethyoxycyclohexane.
If you're wondering how the ethers come in terms of functional group precedence, check this table.
