Lithium Enolates: 'Capricious' Structures - Reliable Reagents for Synthesis

The first part of this review article deals with the structures of enolates. The development of research in this field during the last half century will be illustrated by highlightening seminal contributions, while, by no means, an attempt of comprehensiveness is made: the choice of spotlights has, admittedly, a personal touch. Aside from derivatization of lithium enolates and their crystal structures that meanwhile are classics, more recent solution studies are presented. In the second part, it will be shown by contributions of our laboratory that, despite their complicated structures, lithium enolates are reliable 'workhorses' in synthesis with emphasis being given to stereoselective C-C bond forming reactions due to the Pd-catalyzed allylic alkylation of non-stabilized, preformed enolates.