Cobalt-catalyzed preparation of arylindium reagents from aryl and heteroaryl bromides.

A cobalt-bathophenanthroline catalyst has been developed for the direct preparation of a variety of arylindium reagents from the corresponding aryl and heteroaryl bromides in the presence of indium metal and lithium chloride. The thus-formed arylindium reagents undergo efficient palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions with aryl iodides, tolerating various functional groups including hydroxy and free amino groups.