thumb|right|a generic epoxide. an epoxide is a cyclic ether with three ring atoms. these rings approximately define an equilateral triangle, which makes it highly strained. the strained ring makes epoxides more reactive than other ethers. simple epoxides are named from the parent compound ethylene oxide or oxirane, such as in chloromethyloxirane. as a functional group, epoxides feature the epoxy prefix, such as in the compound 1,2-epoxycycloheptane, which can also be called cycloheptene epoxide, or simply cycloheptene oxide.  a polymer formed by reacting epoxide units is called a polyepoxide or an epoxy. epoxy resins are used as adhesives and structural materials. polymerization of an epoxide gives a polyether, for example ethylene oxide polymerizes to give polyethylene glycol, also known as polyethylene oxide. ==synthesis== the dominant epoxides industrially are ethylene oxide and propylene oxide, which are produced respectively on the scales of approximately 15 and 3 million tonnes.siegfried rebsdat, dieter mayer "ethylene oxide" in ullmann's encyclopedia of industrial chemistry, wiley-vch, weinheim, 2005. article online posting date: march 15, 2001. the epoxidation of ethylene involves its catalytic reaction of oxygen according to the following stoichiometry: :7 h2c=ch2 + 6 o2 â 6 c2h4o + 2 co2 + 2 h2o the direct reaction of oxygen with alkenes is useful only for this epoxide. other alkenes fail to react usefully, even propylene. ===olefin peroxidation=== most epoxides are generated by treating alkenes with peroxide-containing reagents, which donate a single oxygen atom. typical peroxide reagents include hydrogen peroxide, peroxycarboxylic acids (generated in-situ or preformed), and alkyl hydroperoxides. in specialized applications, other peroxide-containing reagents are employed, such as dimethyldioxirane. the largest scale application of this approach is the production of propylene oxide from propylene using either t-butyl hydroperoxide or ethylbenzene hydroperoxide.dietmar kahlich, uwe wiechern, jÃ¶rg lindner âpropylene oxideâ in ullmann's encyclopedia of industrial chemistry, 2002 by wiley-vch, weinheim. article online posting date: june 15, 2000 more typically for laboratory operations, the prilezhaev reaction is employed.march, jerry. 1985. advanced organic chemistry, reactions, mechanisms and structure. 3rd ed. john wiley & sons. isbn 0-471-85472-7.{{cite journal | author = nikolaus prileschajew | journal = berichte der deutschen chemischen gesellschaft | volume = 42 | issue = 4 | pages = 4811â4815 | title = oxydation ungesÃ¤ttigter verbindungen mittels organischer sup
Epoxides Functional_groups