Reductive Cleavage of Allylic Ketals by an Arene-Catalysed Lithiation: A Simple and Direct Route to Masked Lithium Homoenolates

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/S0040-4020(01)87023-X

The reaction of acrolein diethyl acetal 1 with an excess of lithium powder and a catalytic amount of 4,4'-di-tert-butylbiphenyl (DTBB; 2.5 mol percent) in the presence of a carbonyl compound 2 in THF at 0 deg C leads, after hydrolysis with water, to the c