As the Grignard reagent derived from 1-bromopropane, it is used for the n-propylation of electrophiles in organic synthesis.

[1] Like all Grignard reagents, propylmagnesium bromide is a strong electrophile, sensitive to both water and air.

The propylmagnesium halides are the simplest Grignard reagents to exhibit isomerism.

As both the magnesium metal and the product are sensitive to water, the reaction must take place in anhydrous conditions.

[3] While the product is often portrayed as simply C3H6MgBr, in reality it will quickly form a tetrahedral coordination complex with the Lewis basic solvent, centred on the magnesium atom: Propylmagnesium bromide is used in the Grignard reaction to introduce propyl groups to nucleophiles.