Wurtz reaction [SEP] named after
Wurtz reaction
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 metal in dry ether solution to form a higher alkane:
R-X+2Na+X-R -- R-R+2NaX 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
Wurtz–Fittig reaction
The Wurtz–Fittig reaction is the chemical reaction of aryl halides with alkyl halides and sodium metal in the presence of dry ether to give substituted aromatic compounds. Charles Adolphe Wurtz reported what is now known as the Wurtz reaction in 1855, involving the formation of a new carbon-carbon bond by coupling two alkyl halides. Work by Wilhelm Rudolph Fittig in the 1860s extended the approach to the coupling of an alkyl halide with an aryl halide. This modification of the Wurtz reaction is considered a separate process