Nitrogen atom insertion into indenes to access isoquinolines

We report a convenient protocol for a nitrogen atom insertion into indenes to afford isoquinolines. The reaction uses a combination of commercially available (diacetoxy¬iodo)benzene (PIDA) and ammonium carbamate to furnish a wide range of isoquinolines. Various substitution patterns and commonly used functional groups are well tolerated and the operational simplicity renders this protocol broadly applicable. Furthermore, this strategy enables the facile synthesis of 15N labeled isoquinolines, using 15NH4Cl as a commercial 15N source.