The present work aimed to study the transition-metal-catalyzed direct C-H arylation of various nitro-substituted heteroarenes, including 4-nitroimidazole derivatives, 4-nitropyrazole derivatives, fused 3-nitropyridines, nitro-substituted pyrrole and thiophene. Under optimized reaction conditions a wide range of coupling partners were perfectly tolerated. Additional empirical studies indicated that the nitro group has influence on the regioselectivity of the reactions. In addition, the multipurpose nature of nitro group as a versatile directing group was explored.