Conversion of a Grignard reagent to an alkane:

A Grignard reagent can react like a base with water to form an alkane. This is one way of transforming an alkyl halide to an alkane. Similar acid-base reaction can occur with a variety of proton donors (Brønsted acids) including functional groups like alcohols, carboxylic acids, and amines. This can prove a drawback if the Grignard reagent is intended to react at some another site on the target molecule. In such types of cases, functional groups consisting of an X-H bond (in hwich X a heteroatom) would have to be protected before the Grignard reaction is performed.

The reactions of Grignard reagents have been covered somewhere else and include reaction with aldehydes and ketones to provide alcohols, reaction with acid chlorides and esters to provide tertiary alcohols, reaction with carbon dioxide to provide carboxylic acids, reaction along with nitriles to provide ketones, and reaction with epoxides to give alcohols.