Summary It has been shown that benzyl chloride is a convenient reagent for the quantitative estimation of organolithium compounds. In the reactioti of benzyl chloride with an alkyllithium compound, three coupling products are formed: RK, K-benzyl and bibenzyl. Benzyllithium is formed transitorily in this reaction as a consequence of a halogen-metal interconversion reaction: C2H5Li+ C6H6CH2C1-+ CsH5CH2Li+ C2H5Cl.
