The title reaction has been developed for a series of aldimines and ketimines. Most notably, ketimines − which are totally inert towards alkyl Grignard reagents in the absence of the zirconium catalyst − react smoothly when 10 mol % of Cp2ZrCl2 is added. The mechanism of the reaction has been studied. The intermediate azazirconacycle proved to react by two competing pathways involving mono- and dimagnesiated final products before hydrolysis.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Gandon et al. (2001) studied this question.