The key difference between ethanol and methoxymethane is that ethanol occurs as a colorless liquid that is highly volatile at room temperature, whereas methoxymethane occurs as a colorless gas at room temperature.
Ethanol and methoxymethane have the same chemical formula but different chemical structures, which determines the different chemical properties of these compounds. Ethanol or ethyl alcohol is an organic compound having the chemical formula C2H5OH. Methoxymethane is an ether compound having the chemical formula C2H6O.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Ethanol
3. What is Methoxymethane
4. Ethanol vs Methoxymethane in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Ethanol vs Methoxymethane
What is Ethanol?
Ethanol or ethyl alcohol is an organic compound having the chemical formula C2H5OH. It is useful as fuel. However, it is the same compound we find in alcoholic beverages. Most often, this fuel is used as a motor fuel, as a biofuel additive for gasoline.
Figure 01: A Bottle of Ethanol
It is possible to produce ethanol via either biological or chemical means. The major steps of producing ethanol via biological means include fermentation, distillation, and dehydration. During fermentation, microbes act on sugar to convert it into ethanol. The distillation step involves the removal of microbes and most of the water. There, the product of fermentation is heated, so the ethanol fraction evaporates. Thereafter, we should dehydrate the end product of distillation in order to get a highly pure fraction of ethanol. In addition, the production of ethanol via chemical means includes reacting ethene with steam.
What is Methoxymethane?
Methoxymethane is an ether compound having the chemical formula C2H6O. The common name of this compound is dimethyl ether. This compound is well known for its solvent properties. It has two methyl groups bonded via an oxygen atom; the two methyl groups are bonded to the same oxygen atom.
The molar mass of methoxymethane is 46.07 g/mol. The melting point of this substance is -141 Celsius degrees while the boiling point is -24 Celsius degrees. It occurs as a colorless gas at room temperature and has an ether-like odor. Furthermore, dimethyl ether is not water-soluble.
Figure 02: The Chemical Structure of Methoxymethane
Dimethyl ether is a non-polar compound. This means dimethyl ether has no polarity. That is because of its symmetrical molecular structure. Therefore, it is a good solvent for non-polar compounds. However, it is chemically unreactive when compared to other organic compounds.
What is the Difference Between Ethanol and Methoxymethane?
Ethanol and methoxymethane have the same chemical formula but different chemical structures, which determines the different chemical properties of these compounds. The key difference between ethanol and methoxymethane is that ethanol occurs as a colorless liquid that is highly volatile at room temperature, whereas methoxymethane occurs as a colorless gas at room temperature.
Moreover, ethanol is an alcohol with a characteristic alcoholic odor, while methoxymethane is an ether having an ether-like odor. Further, ethanol and methoxymethane have similar chemical formulas which are arranged in different structures; for instance, ethanol has a hydroxyl group (OH group) while methoxymethane has no hydroxyl groups.
The below infographic presents the differences between ethanol and methoxymethane in tabular form for side by side comparison.
Summary – Ethanol vs Methoxymethane
Ethanol or ethyl alcohol is an organic compound having the chemical formula C2H5OH. Methoxymethane is an ether compound having the chemical formula C2H6O. The key difference between ethanol and methoxymethane is that ethanol occurs as a colorless liquid that is highly volatile at room temperature, whereas methoxymethane occurs as a colorless gas at room temperature.
Reference:
1. “Dimethyl Ether.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Database, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Ethanol-alcohol-protection-covid-19” (CC0) via Pixabay
2. “Dimethyl Ether with no lone pairs” By B Levin13 – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia