Improved addition of organolithium reagents to hindered and/or enolisable ketones

A study of the addition of some aryl- and alkyllithium derivatives to some hindered and/or enolisable ketones in different solvents (polar and apolar) and, in some cases, at different temperatures and reaction times, will be presented here. The reversibility of the addition of aryllithium to these specific ketones will be observed and discussed. This approach is then used to prepare new steroids as precursor for potentially interesting substituted testosterones.