You might compare this use of the word вЂetherвЂ™ with the common use of the word вЂalcoholвЂ™ to mean ethanol. вЂEtherвЂ™ is also used as an everyday name for diethyl ether, Et 2 O. The name ether refers to any compound that has two alkyl groups linked through an oxygen atom.

The liver carries out its task of detoxifying unwanted organic compounds by repeatedly hydroxylating them until they are water soluble, and theyВ are then excreted in the bile or urine.Д®thers (R 1 вЂ“OвЂ“R 2 ) contain an alkoxy group (вЂ“OR) Calicheamicin, a molecule we have just mentioned, contains a string of sugars for just this reason. Molecules containing hydroxyl groups are often soluble in water, and living things often attach sugar groups, containing hydroxyl groups, to otherwise insoluble organic compounds to keep them in solution in the cell. Just about the only thing alkanes will do is burn-methane, propane, and butane are all used as domestic fuels, and petrol is a mixture of alkanes containing largely isooctane. However, their unreactivity can be a bonus, and alkanes such as pentane and hexane are often used as solvents, especially for the purification of organic compounds. They are extremely unreactive and therefore rather boring as far as the organic chemist is concerned. The alkanes are the simplest class of organic molecules because they contain no functional groups. We shall therefore now go on to meet some of the most important functional groups. Your understanding of functional groups will be the key to your understanding of organic chemistry. We know that these chemical properties (being able to react with acids, bases, and oxidizing agents) are properties of the hydroxyl group and not just of ethanol because other compounds containing OH groups (in other words, other alcohols) have similar properties, whatever their hydrocarbon frameworks.

The difference between ethanol and ethane is the functional group-the OH, or hydroxyl group. Yet ethanol (CH 3 CH 2 OH, or preferably EtOH- structure in the margin) not only burns, it reacts with acids, bases, and oxidizing agents. Just about the only thing you can do with it is burn it. If you bubble ethane gas (CH 3 CH 3, or EtH) through acids, bases, oxidizing agents, reducing agents-in fact almost any chemical you can think of-it will remain unchanged.

Functional groups chemistry