In organic chemistry, crown ethers are cyclic chemical compounds that consist of a ring containing several ether groups ().  The most common crown ethers are cyclic oligomers of ethylene oxide, the repeating unit being ethyleneoxy, i.e., .  Important members of this series are the tetramer (n = 4), the pentamer (n = 5), and the hexamer (n = 6).  The term "crown" refers to the resemblance between the structure of a crown ether bound to a cation, and a crown sitting on a persons head. The first number in a crown ethers name refers to the number of atoms in the cycle, and the second number refers to the number of those atoms that are oxygen.  Crown ethers are much broader than the oligomers of ethylene oxide; an important group are derived from catechol.
Crown ethers strongly bind certain cations, forming complexes. The oxygen atoms are well situated to coordinate with a cation located at the interior of the ring, whereas the exterior of the ring is hydrophobic. The resulting cations often form salts that are soluble in nonpolar solvents, and for this reason crown ethers are useful in phase transfer catalysis. The denticity of the polyether influences the affinity of the crown ether for various cations.  For example, 18-crown-6 has high affinity for potassium cation, 15-crown-5 for sodium cation, and 12-crown-4 for lithium cation. The high affinity of 18-crown-6 for potassium ions contributes to its toxicity.  The smallest crown ether still capable of binding cations is 8-crown-4, with the largest experimentally confirmed crown ether being 81-crown-27. Crown ethers are not the only macrocyclic ligands that have affinity for the potassium cation. Ionophores such as valinomycin also display a marked preference for the potassium cation over other cations.
Crown ethers have been shown to coordinate to Lewis acids through electrostatic, σ-hole (see halogen bond) interactions, between the Lewis basic oxygen atoms of the crown ether and the electrophilic Lewis acid center.