It was found that ether linkage can be split by treating with deca,rborane and iodine.Thus,n-butyl ether,tetrahydrofuran,anisole and 3,3,4,4-tetrafluoro-1-methyogybutanol were split to give n-butyl iodide,4-iodobutanol,phenol and 3,3,4,4-tetrafluorobutanediol-1,2 respectively.The cleavage reaction was retarded in the case of aryl or halogenated ether,e.g.deoarborane and iodine oleaved 2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5-octafluoropentyl methyl ether only very slowly.