How do epoxides react?
1 Answer
Jul 19, 2017
Well, an epoxide ring reacts in the same way as do aldehydes......
Explanation:
...as do aldehydes. And in fact, the ipso carbons are in precisely the same oxidation state
And these react with nucleophilic reagents such as Grignards, to give a ring opening reaction, in which the carbon chain is extended by two carbons.....
And at the end of the ring-opening reaction we still have an alcoholic function, that we can substitute or eliminate.
The strain imposed by the three-membered ring makes epoxides fairly reactive. They can also be ring-opened by electrophilic reagents.