Organic chem

The name of the compound is methoxyethane.

There is no principal group (alkoxy group can only be named as prefix, and cannot be named as principal group) and no C-C multiple bond in the compound. Therefore, the parent chain should contain the maximum number of carbon atom.

For methoxyethane, ethane is the parent chain which contains 2 carbon atoms. For ethoxymethane, methane is the parent chain which contains 1 carbon atoms only. Therefore, the IUPAC name is methoxyethane.