Expand Your Organolithium Toolkit

Organolithium refers to lithium compounds of carbon-centered anions. Organolithium reagents are synthetically useful because they are strong bases, great nucleophiles, and effective catalysts for radical and anionic polymerizations. Such reagents are, however, very reactive, often spontaneously catching fire in air. To control these hazards, they are only commercially available as solutions in hydrocarbon or ether solvents, which are themselves volatile and flammable. Little can be done to modify the reactivity or selectivity of ordinary organolithium reagents, yet modification is a growing need in many chemical industries.

A need exists to have organolithium reagents available in a dry form that may be easily handled and used without a significant loss in their reactivity. SiGNa Chemistry has transformed organolithium reagents into dry, free-flowing, stabilized powders in nano-structured alumina. These resulting powders perform all the reaction types of conventional organolithium compounds, such as nucleophilic additions, initiation of polymerizations, and base-catalyzed reactions, among others. The powders are infinitely stable under nitrogen gas at room temperature and extend the range of commercially available organolithium compounds.

View SiGNa Products by the reactions they perform.

Typical Reactions

• AllylLithium Addition
• BenzylLithium Addition