Recently, the use of ultrasonic irradiation in synthetic organic chemistry as a method of agitating heterogeneous reaction systems has rapidly gained recognition. Among its first uses were in cleansing the surface of catalysing metals in such reactions as the cyclopropanation of alkenes using the Simmons-Smith reagent,' the debromination of a-bromo- ketones using mercury,* and the preparation of Grignard3 or organozinc reagent^.^ More recent uses have been in the ...
