epoxide

An epoxide is a cyclic ether with three ring atoms. This ring approximately defines 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.