Competition of substituents for ortho direction of metalation of veratric acid

LTMP (5 equiv) metalates randomly veratric acid (1). Under external quench conditions, the thermodynamically more stable lithium 2-lithio-3,4-dimethoxybenzoate (2) reacts with a variety of electrophiles to give versatile building units that are not easily accessible by conventional means. Under in situ quench conditions (LTMP/TMSCl), a reversal of regioselectivity is observed and 6-trimethylsilyl-3,4-dimethoxybenzoic acid (10) is formed predominantly.