Book excerpt: Organic Chemistry, Volume 18: The Chemistry of Indoles discusses the chemistry of indole derivatives. This book explores the potent biological activity of several indole derivatives and explains the structure of indole alkaloids. Organized into 10 chapters, this monograph starts with an overview of the most important types of reactions of the indole ring on a mechanical basis. This text then proceeds to review the methods of synthesizing indoles and describes the oxidations and rearrangements of indole derivatives. Other chapters explore the special features of the synthesis and reactivity of hydroxyindoles, acylindoles, and aminoindoles. This book discusses as well the properties of carboxyl groups, which is substituted on the benzenoid ring of the indole nucleus that is typical of aromatic carboxylic acids. The final chapter deals with the certain classes of indoles that are found in nature. Chemists, researchers, and readers interested in the chemistry of indoles will find this book extremely useful.