Ynolate anions (1) are ketene anion equivalents, and their chemistry is very attractive. 1 Recently, we have developed a novel and useful method for the generation of lithium ynolates via the cleavage of ester dianions prepared from readily available R, R-dibromo esters (2)(Scheme 1) 2 and have demonstrated new reactions using ynolates. 3 It has been known that the [2+ 2] cycloaddition4 of ynolates with aldehydes affords highly reactive ...