How do grignard reagents react with water?

1 Answer
anor277
Jun 24, 2016

Irreversibly. This [is sometimes exploited by chemists.](https://socratic.org/questions/why-does-the-glassware-have-to-be-dry-in-a-grignard-reaction)

Explanation:

The carbanionic nucleophile reacts with the electrophilic proton on the water molecule:

#R-MgX + H_2O rarr R-H + MgXOHdarr#

The reaction is irreversible, but it does have some synthetic utility if you want to label an hydorcarbyl chain with an isotope of hydrogen, #""^2H# or #""^3H#, simply by using heavy or tritiated water.

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