Grignard Reagent Essay

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EXPERIMENT 2 Title : GRIGNARD REAGENT -TRIPENYLCARBINOL Objective : To prepare triphenylcarbinol through a Grignard reaction by reacting methylbenzoate with phenylmagnesium bromide Introduction : The chemical reaction between an organic halide and a magnesium metal can produce an alkyl or aryl free radical and magnesium free radical. The formation of Grignard reagent has been occurs. The bonding between carbon and magnesium is a covalent bond but it is highly polarized because the magnesium is bonded to halide which is an electron withdrawing group. This causes the formation of partial positively charge and partial negatively charge on the magnesium atom and alkyl or aryl group respectively. Hence, the carbanion has both characteristics of a good nucleophile and a strong base. Its basicity allows it to react with the electrophile carbon in a carbonyl group. Besides, Grignard reagent also works with acidic compound such as carboxylic acid, phenol, thiol, alcohol, and even water. One of the most important reactions is the addition of Grignard reagent to the carbonyl compound like aldehyde, ketone, and ester in order to produce the corresponding secondary alcohol and tertiary alcohol. In this experiment we will perform a Grignard addition to an ester. First we will form the Grignard reagent from magnesium and bromobenzene and then we will add it to methyl benzoate to produce triphenylcarbinol (also called triphenylmethanol). Since we are using an ester as our electrophile in this reaction, the nucleophilic Grignard reagent, prepared from the bromobenzene and magnesium, will add to the carbonyl two times to give the triphenyl adduct that on treatment with aqueous acid gives the free alcohol. Method : Preparation of triphenylcarbinol through Grignard reaction involves three steps. The first step is preparation of Grignard reagent which has a formula of RMgX,
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