Tandem Synthesis of Polycyclic Isoindoles

We report an easy multicomponent synthesis of polycyclic isoindoles from cyclic 1,3-dicarbonyls, aldehydes, isocyanides, and maleimides. The key step consists of the one-pot Diels-Alder trapping of a reactive 2-aminofuran intermediate, formed by a sequence of a Knoevenagel condensation and a [4+1] cycloaddition. Moreover, a further microwave-promoted dehydrogenative N-C bond forming reaction allows the straightforward synthesis of a natural product like isoindolocarbazole, validating the utility of our methodology to obtain isoindoles as useful intermediates for the synthesis of complex polycyclic molecules.