Abstract A lithium derivative (3) is generated from 1, 3, 5-tris (trifluoromethyl) benzene (2) and is shown to be remarkably thermally stable. It is shown that 2 is less acidic than pentafluorobenzene, in competition for butyllithium. A preliminary survey of reactivity shows that 2, 4, 6-tris (trifluoromethyl) phenyllithium (3) undergoes a variety of transformations including the formation of mercury and copper derivatives, in spite of crowding in the ...
