A dry, 500-mL, three-necked flask equipped with pressure-equalizing 100-mL dropping funnel, argon inlet, and magnetic stirrer is evacuated and flushed with argon (three cycles). The flask is charged with 16.0 mL (57.7 mmol) of tetraisopropyl orthotitanate (Note 1) via a plastic syringe and hypodermic needle and 2.1 mL (19.2 mmol) of titanium tetrachloride is added over 5 min, with gentle cooling of the flask in an ice–water bath to give a viscous oil (Note 2). After the addition of 70 mL of tetrahydrofuran (Note 3), the clear solution is stirred at room temperature for 30 min. The dropping funnel is charged with 62 mL (77 mmol, 1.24 M in hexane) of methyllithium (Note 4), which is added to the cooled (ice bath) tetrahydrofuran solution over a period of 25–30 min. During the addition the resulting suspension changes from orange to bright yellow. After the mixture has stirred at ice–bath temperature for 1 hr, a solution of 10.6 g (70 mmol) 3-nitrobenzaldehyde (Note 5) in 60 mL of tetrahydrofuran (Note 3) is added from the dropping funnel within 20–25 min at the same temperature. The mixture is stirred at 0–5°C for 1 hr and then 60 mL of 2 N hydrochloric acid is added. The organic phase is separated in a separatory funnel and the aqueous phase is extracted with three 150-mL portions of diethyl ether. The combined organic phases are washed with 100 mL of saturated sodium bicarbonate solution and 100 mL of saturated sodium chloride solution and then dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate. After filtration the solution is concentrated on a rotary evaporator and dried at 0.1 mm for 1 hr. The residue, 11.0–11.1 g (94–95%) of an orange-brown viscous oil, sometimes solidifies on standing (mp 55–60°C); the purity of the crude product is at least 95% (estimated by ¹H NMR). The product can be purified by short-path distillation at 120–125°C (0.15 mm) to give 9.9–10.4 g (85–89%) of a yellow oil, which solidifies on standing at room temperature or at −30°C in a freezer, mp 60.5–62.0°C (lit.² mp 62°C) (Note 6).