Return to Contents Chapter 16: Ethers, Epoxides and Sulfides Ch 16 contents
Summary

In contrast to alcohols, ethers are fairly unreactive except to very strong acids such as HI or HBr.
This low reactivity makes them useful as solvents, e.g. diethyl ether, Et2O and tetrahydrofuran (THF), C4H8O.
Epoxides are more reactive than simple ethers due to the inherent ring strain and react with nucleophiles resulting in ring opening:

reactions of epoxides
Ethers Preparations of Ethers Reactions of  Ethers Epoxides Preparation of Epoxides Reactions of Epoxides Spectroscopic Analysis of Ethers Sulfides Problems
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organic chemistry © Dr. Ian Hunt, Department of Chemistry University of Calgary