Metallic salt-catalyzed direct indium insertion into alkyl iodides and their applications in cross-coupling reactions

Abstract

An efficient method for the synthesis of alkyl indium reagents <italic>via</italic> an indium(<sc>iii</sc>) or lead(<sc>ii</sc>) halide-catalyzed direct insertion of indium into alkyl iodides is developed. NMR and ESI-MS analyses indicated the formation of a mixture of an alkyl indium dihalide (RInX₂) and a dialkyl indium halide (R₂InX).