Properties of Oxymethylene Ethers with Different Terminal Groups: A Mini-Review

Methyl-terminated oxymethylene ethers (OMEs) have garnered significant attention as promising low-carbon alternatives to conventional petroleum-based diesel fuels. Nevertheless, their physicochemical properties frequently fail to satisfy the stringent specifications of current diesel fuel standards, which impedes their direct adoption in modern compression ignition engines. Structural modification of OMEs, particularly through the variation of terminal alkyl moieties, provides a viable strategy for tuning their properties to meet the required performance criteria. This review consolidates and critically evaluates the available literature on the physicochemical and performance characteristics of OMEs featuring diverse molecular architectures. In addition, it delineates existing knowledge gaps and identifies key areas warranting more in-depth future research. The number of published studies in this area is extremely limited, as research in this field is still essentially at an early stage; therefore, the present review has been classified as a mini-review.