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A prelude to Ether Day 1846: Charles F Heywood's letter to William TG Morton
1Burwood North, Australia.
Abstract:
On 14 October 1846, Charles F Heywood, house-surgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA, penned an invitation to the dentist William TG Morton to demonstrate his preparation to prevent pain during a surgical operation at the Hospital on 16 October 1846. The operation would become the first public operation performed with the aid of insensibility produced by the inhalation of sulphuric ether. From Boston, news of the discovery spread around the world-the date of this momentous operation is now celebrated as Ether Day. Although Heywood's letter is well-known from 19th century transcripts, it is apparent from examining a letter believed to be the original, now preserved in the WTG Morton papers held by the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA, USA, that these transcripts were edited before publication. A faithful transcript of Heywood's letter is published along with two images of the historic letter.
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02:28Structure and Nomenclature of Ethers
Ethers are organic compounds with an ether functional group which is characterized by an oxygen atom connected to two — identical or different — alkyl, aryl, or vinyl groups. The C–O–C linkage in dimethyl ether — the simplest ether — has an approximately tetrahedral bond angle of 110.3 degrees. The oxygen atom is sp3- hybridized, with the C–O distance being about 140 pm.
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Based on their attached substituent groups, ethers can be classified into two...
02:17Physical Properties of Ethers
An ether molecule has a net dipole moment due to the polarity of C–O bonds. Subsequently, boiling points of ethers are lower than those of alcohols of comparable molecular weight and slightly higher than those of hydrocarbons of comparable molecular weight (Table 1).
Ethers can act as hydrogen bond acceptors, making them more water-soluble than hydrocarbons, but since ethers cannot act as hydrogen bond donors, they are much less soluble in water than alcohols. Ethers are considered...
02:29Ethers from Alcohols: Alcohol Dehydration and Williamson Ether Synthesis
Ethers can be prepared from organic compounds by various methods. Some of them are discussed below,
Preparation of Ethers by Alcohol Dehydration
In this method, in the presence of protic acids, alcohol dehydrates to produce alkenes and ethers under different conditions. For example, in the presence of sulphuric acid, dehydration of ethanol at 413 K yields ethoxyethane, whereas it yields ethene at 443 K.
02:35Ethers from Alkenes: Alcohol Addition and Alkoxymercuration-Demercuration
Ethers can also be prepared from alkenes through acid-catalyzed addition of alcohols and alkoxymercuration–demercuration.
Preparation of Ethers by Acid-Catalyzed Addition of Alcohol to Alkenes
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02:23Autoxidation of Ethers to Peroxides and Hydroperoxides
02:36Crown Ethers