A convenient method is disclosed for the synthesis of both 3-hydroxyisoquinolines and 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinones from b-ketoesters using a one-pot aryne acyl-alkylation/condensation procedure. When performed in conjunction with a one-step method for the synthesis of the b-ketoester substrates, this method provides a new route to these polyaromatic structures in only two steps from commercially available carboxylic acid starting materials. The utility of this approach is demonstrated in the synthesis of the atropisomeric P,N-ligand, QUINAP.Synthetic chemists are constantly in search of new reaction sequences to convert simple, readily available starting materials into increasingly complex products. The most useful and economically valuable of these processes are able to do so quickly and with little operational difficulty. 1 It was with this concept in mind that we designed a procedure for the conversion of b-ketoesters to either 3-hydroxyisoquinolines or 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinones using a novel one-pot aryne acyl-alkylation/condensation sequence. Furthermore, when this process is coupled with a one-step synthesis of the b-ketoester substrates, it provides an exceptionally general two-step procedure for the conversion of readily available carboxylic acids to either of these important bicyclic aromatic structures. 2 Traditional approaches to the incorporation of these aromatic functionality within larger molecular scaffolds have typicallyThe Arnold and Mabel Beckman Laboratories of Chemical Synthesis, Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Boulevard, MC 164-30, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. E-mail: stoltz@caltech.edu; Fax: +1 626 564 9297; Tel: +1 626 395 6064 † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: General experimental procedures, characterization data, NMR, and IR spectra. See DOI: 10.1039/b913336dScheme 1 Aryne acyl-alkylation followed by condensation with ammonia or intramolecular condensation and oxidation.relied upon transition metal-catalyzed cross coupling reactions employing C(sp 2 )-X precursors. 3 As an alternative to this strategy, we have been exploring methods to prepare various heteroaromatic systems via condensation of arynes with derivatives of carboxylic acids. 4 Following our report of a fluoride-induced insertion reaction between b-ketoesters (1) and arynes derived from silyl aryl triflates (2), 5 we began to investigate avenues by which the acyl-alkylated arene products (3) could be advanced toward larger ring systems (Scheme 1). 6 Our interest in nitrogencontaining heterocycles 7 led us to a report by Bentley et al., in which the synthesis of both 3-hydroxyisoquinolines (4) and 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinones (5) is accomplished by exposure of 1,5-ketoesters similar to 3 to either aqueous ammonia or alkaline base under an ambient atmosphere, respectively. 8 Indeed, we found that treatment of a crude acyl-alkylation reaction mixture containing methyl (2-acetylphenyl)acetate (3) with aqueous ammonium hydroxi...