The Coupling of Carbon and Nitrogen Substituents with Nitroarenes: Vicarious Nucleophilic Substitution of Hydrogen in Nitroarenes

In recent years, nitroarenes have been extensively exploited as green, efficient electrophilic arylation reagents used in a variety of organic syntheses. Transition-metal-free cross-coupling reactions and Vicarious Nucleophilic Substitution (VNS) have become practical and reliable synthetic methods to access momentous functionalized organic compounds. Thus, the introduction of various substituents into nitroarenes has attracted considerable attention as important synthetic approaches due to their simplicity and practicality. In this review, we comprehensively summarize the coupling of several carbon and nitrogen substituents with nitroarenes via nucleophilic substitution under mild conditions, followed by the application of these transversions in the construction of carbon and heterocyclic rings.