Nucleophilic aromatic substitution of hydrogen as a tool for the synthesisof indole and quinoline derivatives

Indole and quinoline belong to the most important heterocyclic systems. Alt hough there are numerous methods of syntheses of these heterocycles, new pr ocesses leading to these systems have still attracted considerable attentio n. Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution of Hydrogen in nitroarenes and other electrophilic arenes opens new rich possibilities for synthesis of indole a nd quinoline derivatives. In this review a variety of methods for synthesis of these heterocycles based on the initial nucleophilic substitution of hy drogen are discussed.