Aliphatic  metal alkoxides decompose in water: where R is an organic substituent and L is an unspecified ligand (often an alkoxide). A well-studied case is the irreversible hydrolysis of titanium isopropoxide:
By controlling the stoichiometry and steric properties of the alkoxide, such reactions can be arrested leading to metal-oxy-alkoxides, which usually are oligonuclear.  Other alcohols can be employed in place of water.  In this way one alkoxide can be converted to another, and the process is properly referred to as alcoholysis (although there is an issue of terminology confusion with transesterification, a different process - see below). The position of the equilibrium can be controlled by the acidity of the alcohol; for example phenols typically react with alkoxides to release alcohols, giving the corresponding phenoxide.  More simply, the alcoholysis can be controlled by selectively evaporating the more volatile component.  In this way, ethoxides can be converted to butoxides, since ethanol (b.p. 78 °C) is more volatile than butanol (b.p. 118 °C).