Substituent effects on the reaction of trityl chlorides with Grignard reagents

The result of the substitution of trityl chlorides with Grignard reagents was found to be highly dependent on the solvent and the nature of the substituents on the trityl group. In THF, electron donating substituents were found to give high yields of Grignard addition while electron withdrawing substituents were found to give mostly reduction to the corresponding triphenyl methane via hydride abstraction from the solvent.