Question

Can ethers be oxidised?

Answer 1

Hint: We know that the ethers have been used for anaesthesia as well as being often utilised as solvents in organic chemistry. With oxygen in the air, the oxygenation of ether can slowly react to produce explosive peroxides, molecules with two oxygen atoms bonded to each other.

Complete Step by Step Solution:
The ether can be oxidised using sodium and calcium hypochlorite. But only symmetrical ethers, such as diethyl ether and tetrahydrofuran (THF), were implicated in the reactions. Surprisingly, the ethers tested underwent oxidation to form esters. Oxidation is a chemical process that involves reacting with oxygen or another oxidising agent. Oxidation is an electrochemical process that leads to a change in the oxidation state of atoms or molecules. The oxidation state refers to whether or not they are oxidised - whether or not they lose electrons and gain oxygen or another electron-deficient element such as hydrogen (a proton).

A change in oxidation state can produce different types of products depending on many factors like temperature, pressure, chemical reactions, catalysts etc. Ethers are found in the distillation of organic materials, which is the process of separating a mixture into its chemical constituents. To oxidise an ether, we need to boil it with aqueous sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid. Ethers are a type of chemical element which can be oxidised to form various compounds. The oxidation process is called oxidation.

Note: The oxidation of ethers is used to change various compounds into aldehydes or ketones. Ketones are classified into two different categories, acyl and benzoyl ketones. The synthesis process for acyl ketones is known as Dehydrohalogenation followed by oxidation with hydrogen peroxide and formaldehyde.