A Ball-Milling-Enabled Reformatsky Reaction.

An operationally simple one-jar one-step mechanochemical Reformatsky reaction using in situ generated organozinc intermediates under neat grinding conditions has been developed. Notable features of this reaction protocol are that it requires no solvent, no inert gases, and no pre-activation of the bulk zinc source. The developed process is demonstrated to have good substrate scope (39-82 % yield) and is effective irrespective of the initial morphology of the zinc source.