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Author: Subject: Best Ether for Grignard?
rrkss
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[*] posted on 11-6-2010 at 14:20


Iodine is a better leaving group than chlorine so you need a higher boiling point to allow more heat to force the reaction. This is why THF is used instead of EtOEt.

For ethyl magnesium bromide I intend to use ethyl ether. I will test for peroxides before I use the ether and if the number is too high, will have to use FeSO4 otherwise I intend to use the reducing nature of the grignard reaction to destroy any peroxide present.
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DJF90
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[*] posted on 11-6-2010 at 14:46


Nope. The formation of a Grignard reagent is a radical reaction ("oxidative insertion") and so it's nothing to do with "this is a better leaving group than that". The C-I bond is weaker than the C-Cl bond, but not by much (228kJmol^-1 vs 346kJmol^-1 respectively), and so an iodide will form a grignard reagent faster than a chloride, given similar conditions.

The difference in the given case is that the chloride is also a *vinyl* halide, which are more difficult to form the grignard reagent from (apparently they have long been considered unreactive towards magnesium), and hence the higher boiling solvent is necessary. I also suspect a more active magnesium is used (Riecke magnesium for example).

1,4-dioxane is added to alkyl magnesium halides in order to shift the Schlenk equilibrium, forming the dialkyl magnesium compound and magnesium dihalide, which is complexed to the 1,4-dioxane and precipitates.
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rrkss
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[*] posted on 11-6-2010 at 15:32


Very interesting. Thanks for sharing!

Quote: Originally posted by DJF90  
Nope. The formation of a Grignard reagent is a radical reaction ("oxidative insertion") and so it's nothing to do with "this is a better leaving group than that". The C-I bond is weaker than the C-Cl bond, but not by much (228kJmol^-1 vs 346kJmol^-1 respectively), and so an iodide will form a grignard reagent faster than a chloride, given similar conditions.

The difference in the given case is that the chloride is also a *vinyl* halide, which are more difficult to form the grignard reagent from (apparently they have long been considered unreactive towards magnesium), and hence the higher boiling solvent is necessary. I also suspect a more active magnesium is used (Riecke magnesium for example).

1,4-dioxane is added to alkyl magnesium halides in order to shift the Schlenk equilibrium, forming the dialkyl magnesium compound and magnesium dihalide, which is complexed to the 1,4-dioxane and precipitates.
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rrkss
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[*] posted on 14-6-2010 at 11:34


Well unstabilized ether does form peroxides very fast. I have a level of between 0.5 ppm and 1 ppm on my test strip from less than 5 days of storage. Normally stabilized ether tests negative for peroxides after a month of storage for me.

Tests negative on iodine starch, only the highly sensitive test gave me a positive reading.

[Edited on 6-14-10 by rrkss]
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