In synthesis, metallated reagents are typically involved in nucleophilic substitution, single-electron-transfer (SET), and redox chemistry with functional groups on other molecules (including but not limited to ketones, aldehydes and alkyl halides).
Metalation reactions (particularly in the form of transmetalation) only began to see more widespread use in synthetic laboratories after François Auguste Victor Grignard’s synthesized organomagnesium halides directly from metallic magnesium and organic halides.
[3] These newfound organomagnesium reagents' extreme versatility in organic synthesis caused metalation to see widespread use in laboratory science.
For example, transmetalations often form a reaction between an organolithium reagent and a metal salt.
This reaction is known to proceed via a radical pathway that is likely initiated through a single-electron-transfer mechanism of the type shown below.