General Reactivity of 2-Lithiobenzothiazole to Various Electrophiles and the Use as a Formyl Anion Equivalent in the Synthesis of α-Hydroxy Carbonyl Compounds
demonstrated by its reaction with phenacyl halides and 5-chloro-2-pentanone leading to the formation of benzothiazolyl-substituted small-ring ethers. In order to demonstrate the value of 2-lithiobenzothiazole as a masked formyl anion, 2-(α-hydroxyalkyl)benzothiazoles were transformed into α-hydroxy carbonyl compounds in three reaction steps without masking the α-hydroxygroups. Quaternization of various