tianya
Posts : 62 Join date : 2010-11-02
| Subject: The physical properties of ether Mon Nov 29, 2010 11:09 pm | |
| Ether molecules cannot form hydrogen bonds amongst each other, resulting in a relatively low boiling point compared to that of the analogous alcohols. The difference, however, in the boiling points of the ethers and their isometric alcohols become higher as the carbon chains become longer, as the van der waals interactions of the extended carbon chain dominate over the presence of hydrogen bonding. Ether is slightly polar, as the COC bond angle in the functional group is about 110 degrees, and the C-O dipoles do not cancel out. Ethers are more polar than alkenes but not as polar as alcohols, esters, or amides of comparable structure. However, the presence of two lone pairs of electrons on the oxygen atoms makes hydrogen bonding with water molecules possible. | |
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