Question

.Please let me know why it is necessary to scrupulously oven-or flame-dry the glass used in Grignard reaction? Please write the reaction.

Answer 1

`R-MgX + H_2O rarr R-H + MgX(OH);`

`R-MgX + D_2O rarr R-D + MgX(OD)`

Explanation:

Scrupulous drying prevents reaction with adventitious water (and of course, water has such a low molecular mass that even a fingerprint smudge can be a lot of molar equivalents. Of course, sometimes you want to label an alkane with deuterium. The Grignard is quenched (cautiously) with `D_2O` (heavy water is dirt cheap, unlike other deuterated solvents). Can you account for this reactivity in terms of nucleophiles and electrophiles?