While the isoquinoline system serves as a structural foundation of many natural product molecules, such as certain alkaloids [1], isoquinolines also have intrinsic biological activity [2] and play an important role as fragments in natural and synthetic drugs. Besides that, 1-(2-pyridyl)isoquinolines present interest as ligands for transition metal cations [3]. The introduction of a cyano group at position 3 of isoquinoline ring in such compounds opens a broad range of possibilities for obtaining various derivatives through subsequent functionalization. Unfortunately, no effective methods are currently known for the synthesis of 3-cyanoisoquinolines. For example, direct cyanation of isoquinoline N-oxides occurs exclusively at position 1, while the few cases of direct 3-cyanation of isoquinolines gave low yields [4] or required special reaction conditions [5]. Besides, 3-cyanoisoquinolines can be obtained through various variants of heterocyclization [6,7] and by the decomposition of 2,3-substituted diazidonaphthaline -in that case 3-cyanoisoquinoline was formed in mixture with by-products [8]. Finally, the 3-cyano group in isoquinoline may be created by chemical transformations of other functional groups, such as substitution of a chlorine atom [9].In this report, we propose a convenient method for the synthesis of 3-cyano-1-(2-pyridyl)isoquinolines based on the available 5-cyano-3-(2-pyridyl)-1,2,4-triazines 1а-с [10] by using a known effective method for the synthesis of various pyridine derivatives from 1,2,4-triazine analogs [11]. It has been established that the interaction of 1,2,4-triazines with enamines followed by oxidation [12], or with in situ generated arynes [13] allows to obtain substituted isoquinolines effectively, even avoiding the aromatization step in the case of arynes [14]. We have previously demonstrated that 3-(2-pyridyl)-1,2,4-triazines substituted with aryl groups at positions 5 and/or 6 [15] react with 1,2-dehydrobenzene forming 10-(1H-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)pyrido[1,2-a]indoles. However, 5-cyano-3-(2-pyridyl)-1,2,4-triazines have never before been used as starting materials in these reactions.