The Impact of Lithium Salts

In an interesting article, Hevia and Mulvey (Angew Chem Int Ed, 2011, 50, (29), 6448) discuss the impact lithium salts have on organometallic chemistry, making the point that even very small amounts of lithium chloride can have dramatic effects on the chemistry.  Many readers will be familiar with the so-named Turbo Grignards pioneered by Knochel in which stoichiometric lithium chloride results in rate enhancements and improved transmetallation performance, but perhaps less of us fully appreciate the activity of lithium salts and their impact elsewhere.  For instance, the authors comment on an enantioselective phenylation reaction where lithium halide salts promote an achiral background reaction resulting in compromised ee of the product

The paper provides an interesting short overview which should be both interesting and useful to the practicing organic chemist.