Abstract

N-Arylindoles are known to be important subunits due to their key role in medically biological activities. This mini-review initially covers the important advances on the N-arylation of indoles with aryl halides by palladium, copper or other transition metalscatalyzed cross-coupling reactions in recent ten years. Subsequently, the synthesis of N-arylindoles from indoles with aryl halides, activated by electron-withdrawing substituents, by aromatic nucleophilic substitution reactions (SNAr) is also surveyed.

Keywords: N-Arylindole, indole, cross-coupling, transition metal-catalyst, aromatic nucleophilic substitution reaction