Influence of various external ligands/auxiliaries on the reductive carbonyl coupling reactions mediated by low-valent titanium (LVT) reagents (McMurry coupling) has been explored. The LVT species generated from Tyrlik's TiCl3-Mg-THF system has been selected for the reactivity-tuning trials. Our studies show that incorporation of about 10 equiv of pyridine (a π- acceptor ligand) with respect to TiCl3 to the THF solvated LVT reagent could arrest the ...
