“…This 1,3-dilithio compound serves as a bifunctional synthetic building block suitable for the preparation of inorganic and organic compounds containing a -CH,-S-CH,-structural unit. The most important strategies for the synthesis of organolithium compounds of general formula R,E-CH,-Li (E = element of group [14][15][16] are as follows: 1) hydrogen-lithium exchange, 2) halogen-lithium exchange, 3) metal-lithium exchange (each with either lithium bases or lithium metal) . ['] Applying these strategies to the preparation of dilithio compounds of the general formula Li-CH,-E-CH,-Li shows that direct metalation (first strategy) is often too slow (e.g., for RP(CH,),)[4J or too unreactive (e.g., for S(CH,),) for preparative purposes.…”