Sudheesh Singanamalla
Last Activity: 14 Years ago
The reaction between Grignard reagents and methanal
In methanal, both R groups are hydrogen. Methanal is the simplest possible aldehyde.

Assuming that you are starting with CH3CH2MgBr and using the general equation above, the alcohol you get always has the form:

Since both R groups are hydrogen atoms, the final product will be:

A primary alcohol is formed. A primary alcohol has only one alkyl group attached to the carbon atom with the -OH group on it.
You could obviously get a different primary alcohol if you started from a different Grignard reagent.
alcohols have no reaction with grignard reagents !