Summary
Alkyl halides are not often found in terrestrial organisms, but the kinds of reactions they undergo are among the most important and well-studied reaction types in organic chemistry. In this chapter, we saw how to name and prepare alkyl halides, and we’ll soon make a detailed study of their substitution and elimination reactions.
Alcohols react with HX to form alkyl halides, but the reaction works well only for tertiary alcohols, R3COH. Primary and secondary alkyl halides are normally prepared from alcohols using either SOCl2, PBr3, or HF in pyridine. Alkyl halides react with magnesium in ether solution to form organomagnesium halides, called Grignard reagents (RMgX), which are both nucleophilic and strongly basic.
