Travelling the organometallic road: a Wittig student's journey from lithium to magnesium and beyond

Both organomagnesium compounds (Grignard reagents) and organolithium compounds are of utmost importance in synthesis. New developments in the area of difunctional organometallic compounds will be described against a historical background in which the author's interest gradually drifted from organolithium chemistry, in particular the deep red ortho-dilithiobenzene, to its magnesium analogue, the tetrameric ortho-phenylenemagnesium. The latter was applied in the synthesis of novel 1,2-disubstituted benzene derivatives such as 9,10-dimetallatriptycenes.