When combined with ethanol, ethyl ether finds use as a solvent for cellulose nitrate in gunpowder manufacture and pyroxylin plastics. Ethyl ether also finds use in pharmaceuticals as a solvent for drugs, and also because of the toxicity of the vapors, can be used as an insecticide and fumigant.
The main route of exposure is inhalation. The mechanism and site of action of diethyl ether are still not known in detail.
Used as a solvent for waxes, fats, oils, perfumes, alkaloids, dyes, gums, resins, nitrocellulose, hydrocarbons, raw rubber, and smokeless powder.
Diethyl ether is probably the most commonly employed solvent for the extraction of clomiphene [14,16], For instance, clomiphene was extracted from 3 mL of plasma in 1 mL borate buffer, pH 9, with an extraction efficiency of 70% at 30 ng/mL