Why is Grignard dry?
1 Answer
Jun 13, 2016
Because the natural enemy of a Grignard reagent, and of organometallic reagents in general is water.
Explanation:
Grignard reagents, though not as water-sensitive as lithium reagents are reactive to water. Dry ethers are generally used in their synthesis.
Once the Grignard has been prepared, quenching with water gives back the hydrocarbon:
Sometimes, we can exploit that reactivity. Suppose, for another experiment we needed the deuterated alkane, we could quench the Grignard with heavy water:
Deuterium oxide,
