Question

Give one chemical test to distinguish between the following pair of compounds:

Ethanol and dimethyl ether

Answer 1

Dimethyl ether and ethanol can be differentiated by their reactions with sodium metal. As ethanol is acidic in nature, it combines with sodium metal to produce hydrogen gas, which is seen as brisk effervescence, but dimethyl ether does not.

\[\ce{\underset{Sodium metal}{2Na} + \underset{(Yellow ppt)}{\underset{Ethanol}{2C2H5OH} -> \underset{Sodium ethoxide}{2C2H5ONa}} + H2}\]

\[\ce{\underset{Dimethyl ether}{CH3OCH3} + \underset{Sodium metal}{Na} -> No reaction}\]