4. What other solvent besides diethyl ether is commonly used in Grignard reactio
ID: 904505 • Letter: 4
Question
4. What other solvent besides diethyl ether is commonly used in Grignard reactions? Why is diethyl ether an excellent solvent for carrying out Grignard reactions? Explain clearly. 4. What other solvent besides diethyl ether is commonly used in Grignard reactions? Why is diethyl ether an excellent solvent for carrying out Grignard reactions? Explain clearly. 4. What other solvent besides diethyl ether is commonly used in Grignard reactions? Why is diethyl ether an excellent solvent for carrying out Grignard reactions? Explain clearly.Explanation / Answer
you must be knowing like dissolves in like. The Grignard reagent is polar and would not be soluble in a nonpolar solvent. So you must need polar solvent to dissolve Grignard reagent.
To see what kind of polar solvents work best, first remember that the Grignard reaction proceeds through an SN2 mechanism. Your Grignard reagent has a dipole moment, ()R(+)MgBr. That partial negative charge turns the R group from a bad nucleophile to a strong nucleophile, which SN2 needs. But it also makes it a strong base. Because of that, we have to be careful with our solvent. If the solvent we use is even a little bit acidic, some of the Grignard reagent will be diverted into an acid-base side reaction with the solvent, instead of the desired nucleophilic substitution.
That is what makes diethyl ether a very good solvent. It is non acidic and also polar.
Beside diethyl ether you can use THF( TetraHydroFuran). You can also use dibutyl ether
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