Comparatively Speaking:
Ether vs. Ester

Posted: February 10, 2006

page 8 of 18

Esters are typically made from the reaction of an alcohol and an acid: in this case, stearic acid and lauryl alcohol. It is noteworthy that the acid name is the group which comes last to which “ate” is added and the alcohol name comes first to which the “yl” ending is added. What then is stearyl laurate?

2.  Silicon is an element. It does not occur in nature, but is very common in the form of an oxide, making up 25% of the Earth’s crust. You can find it in sand, quartz, rock crystal, amethyst, agate and opal. Discovered by Jöns Jacob Berzelius in in 1824, Silicon possesses an Atomic Number 14, an Atomic Weight 28 and a Melting Point 1414oC. The “silicon valley” derives its name not since the element exists in free form, but from the fact that silicon is used in computer chips.

Silicone is a polymeric compound having repeating  –Si-O-Si- bonds.  One method for production is the ring opening of cyclic silicone compounds. An example of a silicone is polydimethyl siloxane. The example below is dimethicone.