Grignard reagents benzylic

Unfortunately this route gives only a 40% yield IJ. Amer. Cham. Soc 1951, 73, 3237) in the Grignard reaction, largely because benzyl Grignard reagents easily give radicals which polymerise. In any case, it s poor tactics to chop off carbon atoms one at a time, and a better disconnection would be ... 

Solvent Preparation. The most critical aspect of the solvent is that it must be dry (less than 0.02 wt % of H2O) and free of O2. If the H2O content is above 0.02 wt %, then the reaction of Mg and RX does not initiate, except for an extremely reactive RX species, such as benzyl bromide. Although adventitious O2 does not retard the initiation process, the O2 reacts with the Grignard reagent to form a RMg02X species. Furthermore, upon hydrolysis, the oxidized Grignard reagent forms a ROH species that may cause purification problems. 

Pyrroles do not react with alkyl halides in a simple fashion polyalkylated products are obtained from reaction with methyl iodide at elevated temperatures and also from the more reactive allyl and benzyl halides under milder conditions in the presence of weak bases. Alkylation of pyrrole Grignard reagents gives mainly 2-alkylated pyrroles whereas N-alkylated pyrroles are obtained by alkylation of pyrrole alkali-metal salts in ionizing solvents. 

BuMgBr, benzene, 80°, 69%. MeMgl fails in this reaction. In general, benzyl ethers are quite stable to Grignard reagents because these reactions are rarely run at such high temperatures. 

Addition of a Grignard reagent to the dibenzazepinone 15, followed by dehydration of the resulting tertiary alcohol 16, furnishes 5-benzyl-10-alkyl(or aryl)-5T/-dibenz[6,/ ]a7epine... 

Very recently, a dry-stir method for the mechanical activation of commercial magnesium turnings was reported16. The procedure is also excellently suited for the preparation of allylic and benzylic Grignard reagents (Table 1, method B). 

Zinc bromide promoted addition of a functionalized benzyl Grignard reagent to the a,/ -unsat-urated y-lactone, 3-(4-methylphenylsulfinyl)-2(5//)-furanone, via a zinc-chelated intermediate, gave, after several synthetic steps, (-)-podorhizon with 95% ee18. 

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