10. HALOGEN DERIVATIVES - part 07 - Reaction with active metals
10. HALOGEN DERIVATIVES - part 07 - Reaction with active metals Reaction with active metals : Active metals like sodium, magnesium,cadmium readily combine with alkyl chlorides, bromides and iodides to form compounds containing carbon-metal bonds. These are known as organometallic compounds. a. Reaction with magnesium : When alkyl halide is treated with magnesium in dry ether as solvent, it gives alkyl magnesium halide. It is known as Grignard reagent. Grignard reagents are very reactive compounds. They react with water or compounds containing hydrogen attached to electronegative element . b. Wurtz reaction : Alkyl halides react with metallic sodium in dry ether as solvent, and form higher alkanes containing double the number of carbon atoms present in alkyl halide. This reaction is called Wurtz reaction. When a mixture of two different alkyl halides i...