Ethyl+Ether


 * Diethyl ether**, also known as **ethyl ether**, simply **ether**, or **ethoxyethane**, is an [|organic compound] in the [|ether] class with the formula (C2H5)2O . It is a colorless, highly [|volatile] [|flammable liquid] with a characteristic odor. It is commonly used as a [|solvent] and was once used as a [|general anesthetic].

The compound may have been created by either [|Jābir ibn Hayyān] in the 8th centuryor [|Raymundus Lullus] 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 dulce vitrioli//)—the name reflects the fact that it is obtained by distilling a mixture of [|ethanol] and [|sulfuric acid] (then known as oil of vitriol)—and noted some of its medicinal propertiesAt about the same time, Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, better known as [|Paracelsus], discovered ether's [|analgesic] properties in chickens. The //ether// was given to the substance in 1730 by [|August Sigmund Frobenius].

Diethyl ether has a high cetane number of 85-96 and is used as starting fluid for diesel or gasoline engines because of its high validity and low autoignition temperature. For the same reason that it is also used as a component of the fuel mixture for other engines.