The Wurtz reaction, named after Charles-Adolphe Wurtz, is a coupling reaction in organic chemistry, organometallic chemistry and recently inorganic main group polymers, whereby two alkyl halides are reacted with sodium to form a new carbon-carbon bond:
- 2R-X + 2Na → R-R + 2Na+X−
Other metals have also been used to effect the Wurtz coupling, among them silver, zinc, iron, activated copper, indium and a mixture of manganese and copper chloride. The related reaction dealing with aryl halides is called the Wurtz-Fittig reaction.This can be explained by the formation of free radical intermediate and its subsequent disproportionation to give alkene.
Read more about Wurtz Reaction: Mechanism, Examples and Reaction Conditions, Limitations
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