New Applications of Indium Catalysts in Organic Synthesis

Abstract

Indium(III) salts have received considerable attention as Lewis acids in recent years. Their stability to co-ordinating atoms present in organic substrates makes them excellent catalysts in substoichiometric quantities. Stability in water allows aqueous recycling and often the use of water as a reaction solvent. This review will focus on describing new developments in the application of indium catalysts in synthetic organic chemistry. Transformations that will be covered include aromatic functionalisation, cycloaddition reactions, conjugate additions and multi-component coupling reactions.