Diethyl ether

(Redirected from Ethyl Ether)

Diethyl ether
Chemical name     Ethoxyethane, diethyl ether
Chemical formula     C4H10O
Molecular mass     74.12 g/mol
Melting point     -116.3 °C
Boiling point     34.6 °C
Density     0.7134 g/cm3
CAS number     60-29-7
SMILES     CCOCC
Chemical structure of diethyl ether

Diethyl ether, also known as ether and ethoxyethane, is a clear,
colorless, and highly flammable liquid with a low boiling point and a
typical smell. Diethyl ether has the formula CH3-CH2-O-CH2-CH3. It is
used as a common solvent and has been used as a general anaesthetic.
Diethyl ether has a high cetane number of 85 - 96 and is used as a
starting fluid for diesel engines. Ether is sparingly soluble in water
(7 g/100 ml).
Contents [showhide]
1 History
2 Anaesthetic use
3 Drug use
4 External links
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History

Alchemist Raymundus Lullus is credited with discovering the compound in
1275, although there is no contemporary evidence of this. It was first
synthesized in 1540 by Valerius Cordus, who called it "sweet oil of
vitriol" (oleum dulci vitrioli, the name was due to the fact that it
was originally discovered by distilling a mixture of ethanol and
sulfuric acid, then known as vitriol), and noted some of its medicinal
properties. At about the same time, Theophrastus Bombastus von
Hohenheim, better known as Paracelsus, discovered ether's analgesic
properties. The name ether was given to the substance in 1730 by
A.S.Frobenius.
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Anaesthetic use

The American doctor Crawford Williamson Long, M.D., was the first
surgeon to use it as an general anesthetic, on March 30, 1842. Its
first use is normally associated with the Etherdome in Boston,
Massachusetts. Ether is no longer used as an anesthetic when other,
safer substances are available; ether is flammable, and is an irritant
to some patients.

Due to this and the high volatility and the low ignition point of
diethyl ether, diethyl ether is one of the risk factors in
laboratories.

Ether may be used to anesthesiate ticks before removing them from an
animal or a person's body. The anesthesia relaxes the tick and prevents
it from maintaining its mouthpart under the skin.
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Drug use

The anaesthetic effects of ether have made it a recreational drug,
although not a popular one. Diethyl ether is not as toxic as other
solvents used as recreational drugs (see volatile substance abuse).

Ether was sold in the late 1800s as a 'medicinal' for women. It was not
considered proper for women to drink alcohol, especially during the
temperance movement, and so they instead took extremely potent
'medicines' when the men did their drinking. One product was called
Hoffmann's Drops, which was 3 parts ethanol to 1 part diethyl ether.

Ether, taken straight, will burn the mouth and be very unpleasant, but
when mixed with alcohol it is possible to ingest orally. In the English
translation of the book Phantastica by Louis Lewin (originally
published in German in 1924), the translator calls it "Liquor
Hoffmanni" and says "A large number of 'abstainers', especially women,
employ this spirit of ether as a remedy against states of depression
from which they frequently suffer. They would protest at being called
alcoholists or etheromaniacs. Nevertheless they are to a certain degree
slaves to the habit, which often becomes a mania. I know a court case
where a woman was said to have consumed within four years thirty
thousand marks' worth of this liquid. Attention should be paid to
drinkers of these drops."
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External links

   * Erowid (http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/ether/ether.shtml)
   * The unusual history of ether
(http://www.anesthesia-nursing.com/ether.html) as an anaesthetic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethyl_Ether