Physical properties of ether
Physical properties of ether Physical state and odour:- Dimethyl ether and ethyl methyl ether are gases at ordinary temperature while other members are colourless liquids having a characteristics ether smell. Volatality :- Lower ethers are highly volatile and are inflammable. Density :- They are lighter than water . Solubility :- lower ethers (uptoC³) are soluble in water because of dipolar nature of the C-O bond which forms H - bonding with water. However solubility of ether in water decrease due to increase of size of nonpolar Alkyl or Aryl groups Boiling point:- Due to weak dipole - dipole interaction among ether molecules , they show slightly higher b.pt than the corresponding n - alkanes having comparable molecular masses . For example b.pt on Dimethyl ether (CH3- O -CH3) is 248k while propane (CH3 - CH2 - CH3) is 231k. However the boiling point of higher ether (>C⁴), are slightly lower than the corresponding n - alkanes of compara...