The influence of the metal on the nucleophilic reactivities of indenyl metal compounds was quantitatively determined by kinetic investigations of their reactions with benzhydrylium ions (Ar₂CH⁺) and structurally related quinone methides. With the correlation equation log k₂=s_N(N+E), it can be derived that the ionic indenyl alkali compounds are 10¹⁸ to 10²⁴ times more reactive (depending on the reference electrophile) than the corresponding indenyltrimethylsilane.