Drawing Ethers (Final 2011 Q7D)

[Jasmin Cruz 1E]

I don't understand how this line structure matches with 2-methoxy-2-methylpropane.

[Jonathan Zuo 2J]

When naming a compound that has an ether functional group attached, the shorter fragment, or the side of the -O- that has the least amount of carbons gets the suffix -oxy.

In this case we have a propane group on the left side of the O and a methane on the right. This means the suffix -oxy goes to the methane group and it becomes methoxy.

Now we find the longest carbon chain on the left side of the -O-, which is a propane, and then name the substituents attached to that propane. The methyl group is attached to the 2nd carbon so we get 2-methylpropane. But we also have the methoxy group attached to the 2nd carbon. Adding the methoxy group to our name, we get

2-methoxy-2-methylpropane