Ghorai Binay K, Jiang Delu, Herndon James W
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, New Mexico State University, MSC 3C, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003, USA.
Org Lett. 2003 Nov 13;5(23):4261-3. doi: 10.1021/ol035405d.
[reaction: see text] The synthesis of isoquinolines through coupling of 2-alkynylbenzaldehyde derivatives with beta-cyanocarbene complexes has been examined. The reaction involves formation of an isobenzofuran followed by intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction with the nitrile, a process with limited precedent. The unique success of this process in this system has been attributed to deoxygenation of the initial adduct to form the isoquinoline ring system.