Lithium diisopropylamide deprotonates o- and p-bromochlorobenzene randomly at the two halogen adjacent positions. Obviously for steric reasons, the bulkier base lithium 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidide favors the attack in the vicinity of the chlorine rather than the bromine atom to the extent of 2:1. At -75 DegC, both 2-bromo-3-chlorophenyllithium and 3-bromo-2-chlorophenyllithium isomerize to give 2-bromo-6-chlorophenyllithium. The latter species can be directly generated from 1-bromo-3-chlorobenzene. [on SciFinder (R)]