Two routes to phenanthridines are reported; a palladium-mediated route using imidoyl-selanides as precursors and a modified radical route using aryl imines as starting materials.

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Imidoyl phenyl selenides have been shown to be precursors to phenanthridines, when treated with Pd(PPh 3 ) 4 under reflux in toluene in the presence of a base, giving reasonable yields. It is proposed that insertion of palladium into the C-Se bond is followed by cyclisation onto a phenyl ring and subsequent aromatisation by elimination of HPdSePh.