“…Initially, equimolar 1aa and 2aa were heated directly without any catalysts or additives in various solvents at 100°C in an oil bath for 5 h. Interestingly, the reaction results were largely influenced by the solvent used. The reactions in 1,2-dimethoxyethane, THF, 1,4-dioxane, CH 3 CN, DMSO, DMF, EtOH and H 2 O (entries 2-3, [5][6][8][9][10][11] selectively gave the 3-hydroxyisoindolinone 3aa as the single product in good to high yields, while reactions in toluene, DCE and CH 3 NO 2 (entries 1, 4, 7) provided a mixture of 3-hydroxyisoindolinone 3aa and 3-methyleneiso- Table 1. Survey of the reaction conditions of the divergent cascade reactions between 1aa and 2aa.…”