Vicarious nucleophilic substitution in organic chemistry is a special type of nucleophilic aromatic substitution in which a nucleophile replaces hydrogen and not an aromatic substituent like a halogen that is ordinarily encountered in this reaction type. This reaction type was reviewed in 1987 by Polish chemists Mieczysław Mąkosza and Jerzy Winiarski.[1][2]
It is typically encountered with nitroarenes and especially with carbon nucleophiles, resulting in new alkylated arenes. Carbon nucleophiles carry a electron-withdrawing group and a leaving group: