Crown ethers are macrocyclic compounds containing equally spaced ether
linkages in a large ring system. They readily form complexes with metal
salts or ammonium salts. Depending on size, number and type of
heteroatom, crown ethers can exhibit selectivity toward specific metal cations.
For example, 12-crown-4 prefers to form complexes with Li+, whereas
18-crown-6 prefers K+. These crown-metal complexes are referred to as
host-guest chemistry where the crown ether is the host and
the
metal cation is the guest.
Crown ethers are used to separate cations, dissolve inorganic salts
into organic solvents to perform naked anion chemistry, serve as
phase transfer catalysts, and chiral crown ethers have been used to
resolve racemic mixtures or separate isomers by chiral chromatography.
Example compounds produced by Parish Chemical:
Benzo-15-crown-5
15-Crown-5
18-Crown-6
Cyclohexyl-15-crown-5
Dibenzo-18-crown-6 (below)
Dicyclohexyl-18-crown-6
Di-t-butyldibenzo-18-crown-6
This site is still under construction. Parish Chemical produces much more
than the few products listed here. Please return as we update our
product line.