Ethers are a relatively unreactive class of organic compound, which makes them useful solvents in organic reactions. There are, however, two common types of reactions that ethers undergo. These two reactions are covered in this tutorial. (Runtime = 17:06)
Student Learning Outcomes
After viewing this tutorial and practicing problems from this website and your textbook, you should be able to:
• Recognize the reactions that ethers will and will not undergo.
• Provide the mechanism of any reaction involving an ether or epoxide.
• Know how to control the regiochemical outcome of some epoxide reactions.
• Predict the major and minor products of reactions involving ethers and epoxides.
Practice Problems
Here are some problems to get you started. You should first try each on a piece of paper. Then, place your cursor over the graphic and click on right arrow that appears to see the answer. The right and left arrows allow you to move back and forth between problems. Please note that these are not the only types of problems/questions that exist on this topic. Refer to your textbook and any problems your instructor provides you for more practice with this subject.
