Which option represents the product of reaction between #"butyl magnesium chloride"# and water? #"A. BuMgCl + water"rarr"BuOH"# #"B. BuMgCl + water"rarr"BuOBu"# #"C. BuMgCl + water"rarrH_3C-CH_2CH_2CH_3 + MgOHCl# #"D. BuMgCl+water"rarr"butanol"#

Question

2111 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2016-05-15T12:36:43

#"Option C, n-butane"#

Grignard reagents feature a highly nucleophilic carbon centre, almost a carbanion, #H_3C-H_2C-H_2C-H_2C^(delta-){MgI}^(delta+)#.

This will react with almost any electrophile, including the proton of water.

Thus: #R-MgX + H_2O rarr R-H + MgXOH#

If you wanted to label an alkane with deuterium, this would be a good way to go about it, by using deuterium oxide, #D_2O#, where #D=""^2H#.

#R-MgX + D_2O rarr R-D + MgXOD#.

So here you have the #d_1-"alkane"# easily, and it's much cheaper than buying it.