Kondo Y, Asai M, Miura T, Uchiyama M, Sakamoto T
Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University, Aobayama, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan.
Org Lett. 2001 Jan 11;3(1):13-5. doi: 10.1021/ol000253x.
[figure: see text] Mesityllithium was found to be an excellent selective lithiating agent to prepare aryllithium compounds having alkoxycarbonyl groups. To extend our studies on chemoselective lithiation, an important precursor for the synthesis of camptothecin was prepared using a halogen-lithium exchange reaction followed by an intramolecular 1,2-addition.