THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HALIDE IN GRIGNARD REAGENTS

Abstract
The optical activity of 1-phenylethanol from benzaldehyde and methyl chloride Grignard reagent coordinated with (+)2,3-dimethoxybutane is about one fourth of that found for the same product when bis-methylmagnesium is the reagent. The difference has been attributed to the relative coordinating power of magnesium chloride versus the optically active ether.