KEY POINTS
• Ethers have relatively low boiling points due to their inability to form hydrogen bonds with each other.
• Because of the electronegativity difference between the oxygen and carbon atoms of an ether, the molecule is slightly polar.
• Although they have a low reactivity overall, the two lone pairs of electrons on the oxygen atom do afford the ether molecule some reactivity; the ether molecule is subject to reacting with strong acids and serves as a Lewis base.