Various heterocyclic compounds incorporating the 1,2,4-triazine ring show interesting biological activities including antihypertensive, antiviral and antibacterial properties, 1-11 as well as activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus and P388 lymphocytic leukemia. 6 The fusion of a heterocyclic ring to the 1,2,4-triazine ring via a functional group on position-3 may take place at N-2 or N-4 to give a linear 1,2,12-16 or angular 17-20 fused heterocycles, respectively. It has been found that the regioselective annelation of a triazole to a triazine ring 1,2,21-24 can be achieved by the cyclisation of 3-hydrazino-5H-1,2,4-triazino[5,6-b]indole either via the dehydrative cyclisation of the respective hydrazide or the dehydrogenative cyclisation of the hydrazones to the linear isomer 10H-1,2,4-triazolo[4′,3′:2,3] [1,2,4]triazino [5,6-b]indole. 1,2,21 On the other hand, the regioselectivity was reversed by introducing a methyl group at N-5 or C-8 of the triazinoindole ring, 25,26 when angular isomers were formed. In the present work the cyclisation of 3-hydrazino-5H-1,2,4-triazino[5,6-b]indoles, with 5-allyl or 8-bromo substituents, with some one-carbon inserting reagents has been investigated in order to find the effect of these substituents on the site of cyclisation. Moreover, the introduction of the allyl group provide derivatives suitable for modification to provide acyclonucleosides.The starting materials 5-allyl-3-hydrazino-1,2,4triazino[5,6-b]indole (5) and the 8-bromo derivative 6 were prepared by the hydrazinolysis of 2 and 4, respectively. A better yield of 5 could be obtained by the reaction of the S,N-diallyl derivative 3 with hydrazine.Although the cyclisation of the 3-ethylidenehydrazino-5-(or 8-)methyl-1,2,4-triazino[5,6-b]indoles gave the angular isomers 1,10 (or 1,7)-dimethyl-1,2,4-triazolo[3′,4′:3,4]-[1,2,4]triazino[5,6-b]indoles, 25,26 the introduction of an allyl group instead of the methyl group on N-5 of the indole ring or a bromine atom on the respective 8-position caused a change in the site of cyclization of the respective hydrazones to give the linear isomers. Thus, reaction of 5 or 6 with acetaldehyde gave the 5-allyl-3-ethylidenehydrazino-1,2,4-triazino-[5,6-b]indole (7) and 8-bromo-3-ethylidenehydrazino-1,2,4triazino[5,6-b]indole (8), respectively. The annelation of the triazole ring to the triazine ring was achieved by oxidation of the hydrazones 7 and 8 with FeCl 3 /EtOH to give the corresponding triazolo derivatives 15 and 16 rather than 13 and 14. The selection of the linear isomers was based on a model experiment whereby the synthesis of 15 and 16 was alternatively achieved by the condensation of the N-allylisatin (22) and 5-bromoisatin (23), respectively, with 3,4-diamino-5methyl-4H-1,2,4-triazole (24). Further confirmation of the structure of 15 was obtained by the allylation of 3-methyl-10H-1,2,4-triazolo[4′,3′:2,3][1,2,4]triazino[5,6-b]indole to give 10-allyl-3-methyl-1,2,4-triazolo[4′,3′:2,3]triazino-[5,6-b]indole (15), which was found to be identical with the ...