Upon condensation of ortho-phenylenediamine (2) with ortho-alkynylbenzaldeh
ydes in nitrobenzene, oxidative cyclizations are observed, which result in
benzimidazo[2,1-a]iso-quinolines (8) or isoindolo[2,1-a]quinoxalines (9) de
pending on the influence of additional substituents at the alkyne.