An allylgallium reagent is found to be effective for radical allylation of α-iodo or α-bromo carbonyl compounds. Treatment of benzyl bromoacetate with allylgallium, prepared from allylmagnesium chloride and gallium trichloride, in the presence of triethylborane in THF provided benzyl 4-pentenoate in good yield. The addition of water as a cosolvent improved the yields of allylated products. It was revealed that the allylgallium species resists ...
[Krafft, Marie E.; Bonaga, Llorente V. R.; Felts, Andrew S.; Hirosawa, Chitaru; Kerrigan, Sean Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2003 , vol. 68, # 15 p. 6039 - 6042]