A formate ester, such as ethyl formate, reacts with an excess of a Grignard reagent to give (after protonation) secondary alcohols with two identical alkyl groups.
(b) Show how you would use reactions of Grignard reagents with ethyl formate to synthesize the following secondary alcohols.
(i) pentan-3-ol
(ii) diphenylmethanol
(iii) trans,trans-nona-2,7-dien-5-ol