The 2,3-dihydro-l H-benz[flindole-4,9-diones 3 a 4 , h were formed in a one-step reaction in 13-82% yield by an unprecedented [3 + 21 regioselective photoaddition of 2-amino-l,4-naphthoquinone (1) with various electronrich alkenes 2 (Scheme 1, Table). The [3 + 21 photoadducts derived from 1 with vinyl ethers and vinyl acetate gave lH-benz[flindole-4,9-diones 412, f, i, in 33-72% yield, by spontaneous loss of the corresponding alcohol or AcOH from the resulting adducts; 4i has a kinamycin skeleton. The [3 + 21 photoaddition also took place on irradiation of the differently substituted amino-1,4-benzoquinones 6, 7, and 12 and excess alkenes 2 in benzene, giving 1H-indole-4,7-dione derivatives 13 and 14 (Scheme 3), 15a and 16 (Scheme 4), and 18 (Scheme 4 ) , respectively. The initial products in these photoadditions were proved to be hydroquinones, the air oxidation of which yielded the heterocyclic quinones; 2,3-dihydro-2-rnethoxy-2-methyl-5-phenyl-1 H-indole-1,4,7-triyl triacetate (19) was isolated after treatment of the crude photoaddition mixture obtained from 2-amino-5-phenyl-1,4-benzoquinone (7) and 2-methoxyprop-1-ene (20 with Ac,O and pyridine under N,. A pathway leading to the annelated hydroquinones involving ionic intermediates arising from an electron transfer in these photoadditions is proposed (Scheme 5 ) .In previous papers, we reported on a one-step synthesis of 2,3-dihydronaphtho- In this paper, we describe the full details concerning this work [4]. We also describe an extention of the [3 + 21 photoaddition to the one-step formation of lH-indole-4,7-diones from 2-amino-1 ,Cbenzoquinone and various alkenes.') Part 141: [l].' )