Ethyl group

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Ethyl group ( marked in blue ) above, from left to right, as part of a molecule, as an ethyl radical and in ethanol and below, from left to right, in bromoethane, ethyl acetate and ethyl methyl ether. R = hetero atom, organyl radical, such as alkyl , aryl , allyl, etc. or other radicals with a free valence.

The ethyl group is an arrangement of atoms in organic chemistry with the formula

-CH 2 -CH 3 or -C 2 H 5, respectively

and belongs to the alkyl groups . It cannot be represented as a stable compound and only exists as a very short-lived intermediate in chemical reactions. The ethyl group can be represented by abstraction of a hydrogen atom from ethane .

In the chemical literature, the ethyl group is abbreviated as "Et", e.g. B. Diethyl ether as Et 2 O. Further examples of molecules with ethyl groups are: 2-ethylhexanol (C 8 H 18 O), tetraethyl lead (Pb (CH 2 CH 3 ) 4 ), methyl ethyl ketone (CH 3 COCH 2 CH 3 ).

The German term ethyl group is no longer in use today due to the Anglicisation of the technical language and can only be found in old descriptions of experiments, for example ethanol used to be called ethanol or ethyl alcohol.

The next smaller or larger alkyl group are the methyl group (–CH 3 ) and the propyl group (–C 3 H 7 ).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Brockhaus ABC chemistry. VEB FA Brockhaus Verlag, Leipzig 1965, p. 46.