A fair exchange: In the title reaction, alkynyllithium serves as an initiator for benzyne generation through an iodine–lithium exchange (see scheme; Tf=trifluoromethanesulfonyl). When performed in the presence of stoichiometric amounts of a nucleophile, the generated benzyne undergoes attack by lithio nucleophiles to generate aryllithium, which is then iodinated by iodoalkyne to give the iodoarenes