Grignard was the son of a sail maker. After studying mathematics at Lyon he transferred to chemistry, becoming a professor at the University of Nancy in 1910. During World War I, he was transferred to the new field of chemical warfare, and worked on the manufacture of phosgene and the detection of mustard gas. His "opposite number" on the german side was another Nobel Prize winning Chemist, Fritz Haber.
He is most noted for devising a new method for creating carbon-carbon bonds (i.e. an addition reaction) in organic synthesis (Original publication: V. Grignard, Compt. Rend. Vol. 130, p. 1322 (1900)). The synthesis occurs in two steps:
Synthesis of the Grignard reagent: an organomagnesium compound (the Grignard reagent) is made reacting an organohalide (R-X, where R stands for some alkyl or arylradical and X is a halogen such as usually bromine or iodine) with magnesium metal dissolved in ethyl ether. The resulting compound, named a Grignard reagent, has the general chemical formula R-Mg-X.
Attack on the carbonyl: A ketone or an aldehyde (both contain a carbonyl group) is added to the solution containing the Grignard reagent. The carbon atom that is bonded to the Mg atom bonds to the carbonyl carbon atom by nucleophilic attack, with the formation of a new compound, which is an alcohol.
The Grignard reaction is an important means of making larger organic compounds from smaller starting materials. By careful selection of the starting materials, a wide variety of compounds can be made by this reaction. For this work, Grignard was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1912.
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