How do you name Grignard reagents?

1 Answer
Oct 8, 2016

Well, usually, Grignards follow the name of parent hydrocarbyl halide.

Explanation:

And thus for R-MgXRMgX, we would say:

"phenyl magnesium chloride"phenyl magnesium chloride for R=C_6H_5, X=ClR=C6H5,X=Cl,

"methyl magnesium iodide"methyl magnesium iodide for R=CH_3, X=IR=CH3,X=I,

"tert-butyl magnesium chloride"tert-butyl magnesium chloride for R=C(CH_3)_3, X=ClR=C(CH3)3,X=Cl, or

"dimethyl magnesium"dimethyl magnesium for R=X=CH_3R=X=CH3.

Note that in ethereal solution, the actual Grignard reagent is probably an oligomer, with the magnesium centre solvated by several ethereal donors, however, the ethers are along for the ride, while the Grignard does it job of C-CCC bond formation.