The reaction of an excess of lithium powder and a catalytic amount of DTBB with primary, secondary and tertiary fluoroalkanes in the presence of a substoichiometric amount of 1, 2- bis (trimethylsilyl) benzene 1 afforded the corresponding alkanes resulting from a fluorine– hydrogen exchange. The method could be extended to non-geminal difluorides. The effect of the disilylated compound in the naphthalene-catalysed lithiation of fluorobenzene and ...
[Patrick, Timothy B.; Johri, Kamalesh K.; White, David H.; Bertrand, William S.; Mokhtar, Rodziah; et al. Canadian Journal of Chemistry, 1986 , vol. 64, p. 138 - 141]