Grignard Reagents

Grignard reaction
Named after	Victor Grignard
Reaction type	Coupling reaction
Identifiers
Organic Chemistry Portal	grignard-reaction
RSC ontology ID	RXNO:0000014

The Grignard reaction (pronounced /ɡriɲar/) is an organometallic chemical reaction in which alkyl, vinyl, or aryl-magnesium halides (Grignard reagents) add to a carbonyl group in an aldehyde or ketone. This reaction is an important tool for the formation of carbon–carbon bonds. The reaction of an organic halide with magnesium is not a Grignard reaction, but provides a Grignard reagent.

Grignard reactions and reagents were discovered by and are named after the French chemist François Auguste Victor Grignard (University of Nancy, France), who published it in 1900 and was awarded the 1912 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work. Grignard reagents are similar to organolithium reagents because both are strong nucleophiles that can form new carbon–carbon bonds. The nucleophilicity increases if the alkyl substituent is replaced by an amido group. These amido magnesium halides are called Hauser bases.

The Grignard reagent functions as a nucleophile, attacking the electrophilic carbon atom that is present within the polar bond of a carbonyl group. The addition of the Grignard reagent to the carbonyl typically proceeds through a six-membered ring transition state.

However, with hindered Grignard reagents, the reaction may proceed by single-electron transfer. Similar pathways are assumed for other reactions of Grignard reagents, e.g., in the formation of carbon–phosphorus, carbon–tin, carbon–silicon, carbon–boron and other carbon–heteroatom bonds.

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