The preparation of a variety of derivatives of 2-oxa-1,3,4,10-tetraazacyclopenta [b]fluoren-9-one 1 is described. A series of substituted indan-1-ones were prepared and oxidized with N-bromosuccinimide and dimethyl sulfoxide to the corresponding ninhydrin derivatives. Cyclization of the ninhydrins with furazan-3,4-diamine yielded the target tetracycles. Appropiate choice of substituents in ninhydrins led to a preference for one regioisomer in the target tetracycles. This permitted the synthesis of a variety of 8-substituted heterocycles. In those instances where isomer formation was possible, structural assignments were confirmed by X-ray crystallography.J. Heterocyclic Chem., 38, 1103 (2001).As a part of a screening program to identify new compounds with pharmacological activity, we became interested in 2-oxa-1,3,4,10-tetraazacyclopenta[b]fluoren-9-one 1. The only literature reference to compound 1 [1] describes the preparation by the reaction of ninhydrin and furazan-3,4-diamine [2] under acidic conditions. This reaction is analogous to that of ninhydrin with o-phenylenediamine and other heterocyclic diamines [3][4][5]. We were interested in preparing derivatives of 1 for biological testing by introducing functionality at positions 6-8 of the tetracycle. We found that electrophilic aromatic substitution to 1 (bromination, nitration, or Friedel-Crafts acylation with benzoyl chloride) was unsatisfactory, presumably due to deactivation of the aromatic ring by the ketone and fused pyrazine moieties. Ultimately, our method of choice to synthesize these derivatives was to incorporate a suitable functional group into an indan-1-one for conversion to a substituted ninhydrin derivative [6,7] before cyclization with furazan-3,4-diamine.