Reaction of 1,1-dibromoalkane (R 1 CHBr 2 ) with trialkylzincate ((R 2 ) 3 ZnLi) followed by a palladium catalyzed coupling reaction of the resulting secondary organozinc reagent (R 1 CH(R 2 )ZnL) with various electrophiles (El-X) afforded R 1 CH(R 2 )El. ... J. Am. Chem. Soc., 111 (1989), p. 4028 and references cited therein. ... Tetrahedron Lett., 30 (1989), p. 3955 and references cited therein. ... Zincate (R 3 ZnLi) was prepared by the reaction of ...