Examples 1-5 detail the scope of the reaction by elongating the alkyl chain (R 2 ),and incorporating branched (4) and cyclic (5) side chains. The reaction is generally tolerant (78-86% conversion to the ketone) with the exception of the non-reactive cyclopropyl derivative . Example 5may give rise to deprotonation to the stabilised cyclopentyl anion rather than the desired transformation. Next, variation of the aryl linker was explored (examples 6-9). The steric effect induced by bisaryl substitution was tolerated (69-76% conversion to the ketone) with the exception of the highly electron rich analogue 9 vs 8 (28% isolated vs no conversion, respectively). Exploration of halogen containing benzyl alcohols (examples 10-12) again was tolerated at the ortho and para positions including the disubstituted example 12. An example of an aliphatic alcohol oxidation (13) returned the ketone in a modest 43% isolated yield.