A variety of a-diphenylmethylsilyl esters have been prepared and reacted with Grignard reagents. The reaction is relatively slow in refluxing THF and can be controlled to allow the addition of 1 equiv of the Grignard reagent, providing the corresponding@ keto silane. Protiodesilylation of the &keto silane results in the overall conversion of an ester to a ketone. This ester to ketone methodology has been applied to a two-step synthesis of the ...