Organoindium reagents: The preparation and application in organic synthesis

Indium and organoindium reagents have gathered attention from the synthetic community. The unique reactivity of organoindium reagent as well as its mildness when compared to other reactive organometallic species allow substrates possessing important yet sensitive functional groups to be used directly without pre-derivatization, thus rendering organic transformations more straightforward, efficient, and economical. In addition, the feasibility of using organoindium reagents in aqueous media permits the direct functionalization of water-soluble substrates including carbohydrates and other biomolecules, which is also in accordance with the principles of green chemistry. The specific characteristics of organoindium reagent also enable organic reactions to proceed with unprecedented chemoselectivity, which is unattainable by using traditional organometallic reagents. Therefore, organoindium reagents have increasingly found utility in the assembly of complex molecules including natural products.