The
Wurtz reaction, named after
Charles-Adolphe WurtzAdolphe Wurtz was an Alsatian French chemist. He is best remembered for his decades-long advocacy for the atomic theory and for ideas about the structures of chemical compounds, against the skeptical opinions of chemists such as Marcellin Berthelot and Etienne Henri Sainte-Claire Deville...
, is a
coupling reactionA coupling reaction in organic chemistry is a catch-all term for a variety of reactions where two hydrocarbon fragments are coupled with the aid of a metal catalyst...
in
organic chemistryOrganic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives...
,
organometallic chemistryOrganometallic chemistry is the study of chemical compounds containing bonds between carbon and a metal. Since many compounds without such bonds are chemically similar, an alternative may be compounds containing metal-element bonds of a largely covalent character...
and recently inorganic main group
polymerA polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units. These subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds...
s, whereby two alkyl halides are reacted with
sodiumSodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals; its only stable isotope is 23Na. It is an abundant element that exists in numerous minerals, most commonly as sodium chloride...
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
silverSilver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
,
zincZinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
,
ironIron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
, activated
copperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
,
indiumIndium is a chemical element with the symbol In and atomic number 49. This rare, very soft, malleable and easily fusible post-transition metal is chemically similar to gallium and thallium, and shows the intermediate properties between these two...
and a mixture of
manganeseManganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...
and
copper chlorideCopper forms two stable chlorides:*Copper chloride , CuCl, mineral name nantokite.*Copper chloride , CuCl2, mineral name eriochalcite....
. The related reaction dealing with aryl halides is called the
Wurtz-Fittig reactionThe Wurtz-Fittig reaction is the chemical reaction of aryl halides with alkyl halides and sodium metal to give substituted aromatic compounds....
.
Mechanism
The reaction consists of a halogen-metal exchange involving the radical species R• (in a similar fashion to the formation of a Grignard reagent and then the carbon-carbon bond formation in a
nucleophilic substitutionIn organic and inorganic chemistry, nucleophilic substitution is a fundamental class of reactions in which an electron nucleophile selectively bonds with or attacks the positive or partially positive charge of an atom or a group of atoms called the leaving group; the positive or partially positive...
reaction.)
One electron from the metal is transferred to the halogen to produce a metal halide and an alkyl radical.
- R-X + M → R• + M+X−
The alkyl radical then accepts an electron from another metal atom to form an alkyl anion and the metal becomes cationic. This intermediate has been isolated in a several cases.
- R• + M → R−M+
The nucleophilic carbon of the alkyl anion then displaces the halide in an
SN2 reactionThe SN2 reaction is a type of nucleophilic substitution, where a lone pair from a nucleophile attacks an electron deficient electrophilic center and bonds to it, expelling another group called a leaving group. Thus the incoming group replaces the leaving group in one step...
, forming a new carbon-carbon covalent bond.
- R−M+ + R-X → R-R + M+X−
Examples and reaction conditions
A typical reactions would be when
methyl iodideMethyl iodide, also called iodomethane, and commonly abbreviated "MeI", is the chemical compound with the formula CH3I. It is a dense, colorless, volatile liquid. In terms of chemical structure, it is related to methane by replacement of one hydrogen atom by an atom of iodine. It is naturally...
or
ethyl chlorideChloroethane or monochloroethane, commonly known by its old name ethyl chloride, is a chemical compound with chemical formula , once widely used in producing tetraethyllead, a gasoline additive...
are reacted with powdered sodium metal in anhydrous ether.
AlkaneAlkanes are chemical compounds that consist only of hydrogen and carbon atoms and are bonded exclusively by single bonds without any cycles...
s containing double the number of carbon atoms is formed, i.e. methyl iodide gives
ethaneEthane is a chemical compound with chemical formula C2H6. It is the only two-carbon alkane that is an aliphatic hydrocarbon. At standard temperature and pressure, ethane is a colorless, odorless gas....
, and ethyl chloride gives
n-butaneButane is a gas with the formula C4H10 that is an alkane with four carbon atoms. The term may refer to any of two structural isomers, or to a mixture of them: in the IUPAC nomenclature, however, butane refers only to the unbranched n-butane isomer; the other one being called "methylpropane" or...
.
The solvent, ether in this case, must be anhydrous (free of moisture) because the alkyl anions are so basic (the
pKaPKA, pKa, or other similar variations may stand for:* pKa, the symbol for the acid dissociation constant at logarithmic scale* Protein kinase A, a class of cAMP-dependent enzymes* Pi Kappa Alpha, the North-American social fraternity...
of the alkyl proton is 48–50) that they readily deprotonate water to hydroxide ion, forming alkanes, and reducing the yield of the desired product.
Due to several limitations (see below) this reaction is very seldom used, especially since alkanes can be obtained from variety of natural sources, such as crude oil or by transformations of fatty acids. However, Wurtz coupling is useful in closing small, especially three-membered, rings: bicyclobutane was prepared this way using 1-bromo-3-chlorocyclobutane and sodium, giving 95% yield of the product:
Limitations
The Wurtz reaction is limited to the synthesis of symmetric alkanes. If two dissimilar alkyl halides are taken as reactants, then the product is a mixture of alkanes, that is, often, difficult to separate as the difference in boiling point would be very low in these cases, therefore, distillation wouldn't work. Also, since the reaction involves free radical species, a side reaction occurs to produce an
alkeneIn organic chemistry, an alkene, olefin, or olefine is an unsaturated chemical compound containing at least one carbon-to-carbon double bond...
. This side-reaction becomes more significant when the alkyl halides are bulky at the halogen-attached carbon. This is because the activation energy required for the reaction in the second step becomes significantly high, so the alternate elimination mechanism is favored.