Alcohols, Phenols and Ethers

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Williamson's synthesis prepares ethers by reacting a sodium alkoxide with an alkyl halide: R-O(-) Na(+) + R'X → R-O-R' + NaX It is a nucleophilic substitution reaction. It is best for making simple an…

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Phenolic ethers are prepared from sodium phenoxide + alkyl halide because aryl halides are much less reactive toward nucleophilic substitution than alkyl halides. So the correct route is: C6H5O(-) Na(…

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Heating haloalkanes with dry silver oxide gives ethers. The method works for both simple and mixed ethers. It is useful because two alkyl groups can be joined through oxygen under suitable conditions.

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Excess alcohol is heated with conc. H2SO4 at 413 K to form a symmetrical ether. General idea: alcohol molecules lose water and combine through oxygen. This method is suitable mainly for primary alcoho…

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Secondary alcohols give a mixture of alkene and ether, while tertiary alcohols give only alkenes under similar conditions. The order of suitability for ether formation is: primary > secondary > tertia…

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Passing vapours of alcohols over heated alumina at 525 K gives ethers. This is mainly used in industry. It is not suitable for preparing mixed ethers and needs careful temperature control.

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Methyl ethers are prepared by treating an alcohol with diazomethane in the presence of HBF4 as catalyst. This method specifically helps in making methyl ethers.

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Higher ethers are prepared by treating lower halogenated ethers with suitable Grignard reagents. This is a useful method for converting lower ethers into higher ones.