The article by Abigail Grissom (“Organometallics Tops List As Hottest Chemistry Field,” The Scientist, Sept. 4, 1989. page 16) may have missed one particular area. Although organolithium chemistry is mentioned in connection with organocuprates near the end of the article, “straight” organolithium chemistry is currently experiencing great development and application both in academics and industry.
The area of directed orthometalation (DoM) has revolutionized the way chemists think about substituting aromatic rings regioselectively. Since I have just finished writing a review (Chemical Review, submitted) and prepar- ing a book on this subject, I have pulled by key word anything related to organolithium compounds and have found a large number of references (of the order of 2,000 in the last four years) relating to this active field. Since I am also working in the area of palladium catalyzed arylation which is near one of the hot points of your graph, it is ...
