Nomenclature of Ethers

Ethers are organic compounds in which an oxygen atom is bonded to two alkyl groups or aryl groups. Thus, ethers can be represented as R–O–R' where R and R' may be alkyl or aryl groups.

When the two substituent groups (R and R') are identical, then the ether is called a symmetrical ether, otherwise if these two groups are different, then the ether is known as an unsymmetrical ether.

The oxygen atom of the ether can also be part of a ring, in which case the ether is known as a cyclic ether.

Common Names

Common names of ethers are arrived by alphabetically naming the two groups attached to the oxygen followed by the word ether.

IUPAC Nomenclature

In IUPAC nomenclature, the larger alkyl (or aryl) group is used as the root name as the alkaneand the smaller alkyl group is treated as an alkoxy substituent on this alkane. For example, in ethyl methyl ether having ethyl and methyl groups, the ethyl group is larger than methyl group and hence this ether is treated as the ethane derivative. The remaining portion is called the methoxy substituent.