The N-aryl heterocycle (1 equiv) was added to an oven dried side arm round bottom flask equipped with a magnetic stirbar. The starting material was thoroughly stirred in anhydrous tetrahydrofuran (THF), and the flask was evacuated and subsequently flushed with nitrogen three times. The solution was cooled to -78°C, after which a solution of butyllithium was added dropwise via syringe. The reaction flask was allowed to stir at constant temperature for 30 minutes, after which a solution of the carbonyl compound dissolved in anhydrous THF (1 equiv) was added slowly via syringe. The reaction mixture was allowed to warm to room temperature and stirred for 4 hours before being quenched with 10 mL of a concentrated aqueous ammonium chloride solution. The solution was extracted using methylene chloride and water, and the organic layer was subsequently washed with water and then brine, allowed to dry over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated in vacuo. The residue was purified via silica gel column chromatography to give the fluorenyl alcohol.