Coupling reactions of tertiary and secondary alkyl halides with indenyllithiums proceeded effectively in the presence of a catalytic amount of silver bromide to provide tertiary- and secondary-alkyl-substituted indene derivatives in good yields.
Treatment of secondary or tertiary alkyl bromides with alkyl Grignardreagents in the presence of catalytic amounts of silver bromide and potassium fluoride in CH2Cl2 afforded the corresponding cross-coupling products in reasonable yields. Moreover, silver showed catalytic activity for the cross-coupling reactions of alkyl bromides with aryl Grignardreagents.