This comes from March 4th ed. p 931:
RCOOLi + R'Li --> RC(OLi)2R' --> RCOR'
Good yields of ketones can be obtained by treatement of the lithium salt of the carboxylic acid with an alkyllithium reagent, followed by hydrolysis. R' may be aryl or primary, secondary, or tertiary alkyl. MeLi and PhLi have been employed most often. R may be alkyl or aryl, though lithium acetate gives low yield. Tertiary alcohols are side products.
Now, this is my question: If lithium acetate gives low yields, will lithium phenylacetate also give low yields when one does the reaction with MeLi to get our precious ketone?
Do you think this reaction is interesting enough for some further research?