ChemInform Abstract: Synthesis of 2,6-Dihydronaphth(1,2,3-cd)indol-6-ones.

The reaction of 1-aminoanthraquinone with benzyl chloride in KOH-DMSO system afforded 3,11b-dibenzyl-2-phenyl-2,3,7,11b-tetrahydroanthra[1,9-de][1,3]oxazin-7-one (5; 78% yield), whose structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The reaction of compound 5 with aluminium chloride gave 1-phenyl-2,6-di-hydronaphth[1,2,3-cd]indol-6-one (52% yield) having strong fluorescence.