Since its discovery by Schlenk and Holtz, lithiation chemistry has become a well-established technique in modern industrial synthesis. With the demand to synthesize highly complex natural products and obtain new chemical structures for probing uncharted territory in chemistry, organolithium reagents have become essential elements in the formation of known bond formations (e.g. nucleophilic addition and substitution) and the development of new technologies in organic synthesis.

Organolithium compounds, being strong bases and nucleophiles, have gained outstanding importance as key intermediates and powerful reagents in organic synthesis.