The title alcohol (1) was synthesized in good yield by a novel umpolung method involving reaction of the lithium dianion of 9-xanthone with tropylium ion. It was prepared to see if its derived carbenium ion might undergo spontaneous a fragmentation to form tropylium ion and singlet-state xanthylidene. In contrast to expectation, treatment of 1 with Br~ nsted and Lewis acids under a variety of experimental conditions produced 9-benzylidenexanthene ( ...