G. W. Fuchs, U. Fuchs, T. F. Giesen, and F. Wyrowski
reported on
Trans-Ethyl Methyl Ether in Space\\ A new Look at a Complex Molecule in Selected Hot Core Regions
Astron. Astrophys. 444, 521–530 (2005)
have searched for quite an extensive number of EME transitions employing the IRAM 30m and SEST 15m telescopes. A small number of 3σ transitions plus some less significant transitions were observed toward W51e2. The most probable column density and rotational temperature are compatible with values for related molecules. Moreover, the spectrum synthesized from these values is compatible with all observed lines. However, since the number of significant lines is still small the detection should be viewed with some caution.
Upper limits only were found toward G34.26, NGC 6334 I, Orion KL and Sgr B2(N).

P. B. Carroll, B. A. McGuire, G. A. Blake, A. J. Apponi, L. M. Ziurys, and A. Remijan,
reported on
The Search for a Complex Molecule in a Selected Hot Core Region:\\ A Rigorous Attempt to Confirm //trans//-Ethyl Methyl Ether toward W51 e1/e2
Astrophys. J. 799, Art. No. 15 (2015).
The authors point out “missing lines”, thus disputing the claim of a tentative detection by Fuchs et al. Moreover, they mentioned errors in the derivation of column densities in the above work.
At this point, ethyl methyl ether should be viewed as an undetected molecule even though prospects of detecting it eventually may be fairly high.

B. Tercero, J. Cernicharo, A. López, N. Brouillet, L. Kolesniková, R. A. Motiyenko, L. Margulès, J. L. Alonso, and J.-C. Guillemin,
reported on
Searching for Trans Ethyl Methyl Ether in Orion KL
Astron. Astrophys. 582, Art. No. L1 (2015).
The authors used their IRAM 30 m line survey as well as ALMA Science Verfication data to claim a tentative detection of that molecule. The presented model looks promising, though some, possibly minor, issues are quite obvious. The ratio of dimethyl ether to ethyl methyl ether in their ground vibrational states of ≥ 150 appears reasonable, even if vibrational corrections will decrease the ratio considerably. In the absence of any other molecular features shown in the model, the detection should be viewed as tentative, as was done by the authors.

B. Tercero, S. Cuadrado, A. López, N. Brouillet, D. Despois, and J. Cernicharo
investigated
Chemical Segregation of Complex Organic O-bearing Species in Orion KL
Astron. Astrophys. 620, Art. No. L6 (2018).
They analyzed the Cycle 0 ALMA science verification data and found ethyl methyl ether beyond doubt.

S. Manigand, J. K. Jørgensen, H. Calcutt, H. S. P. Müller, N. F. W. Ligterink, A. Coutens, M. N. Drozdovskaya, E. F. van Dishoeck, and S. F. Wampfler
reported on
The ALMA-PILS Survey: Inventory of Complex Organic Molecules towards IRAS 16293–2422 A
Astron. Astrophys. 635, Art. No. A48 (2020).
They found ethyl methyl ether toward IRAS 16293–2422 B in this context.

Contributor(s): H. S. P. Müller; 02, 2006; 02, 2015; 10, 2015; 07, 2019; 03, 2020