Grignard Reagents as Niche Bases in the Synthesis of Pharmaceutically Relevant Molecules

Abstract Grignard reagents are routinely employed in the pharmaceutical industry as reliablesynthetic equivaents of carbanion synthons for construction of new C−C bonds. The present review however does not focuson these well documented applications of Grignard reagents as carbon nucleophiles. Rather, it documents certain unique case studies wherein, despite the material loss entailed as R−H, a Grignard reagent (RMgX) was strategically deployed as a Bronsted base to abstract an active hydrogen and effect a desired transformation in the synthesis of APIs and pharmaceutically relevant natural products.