Reactions of 2-(4-hydroxyarylamino)-1,4-naphthoquinones with cerium ammonium nitrate or pyridinium chlorochromate depending on the structure of initial substrate and the type of reagent led to the formation of 2-chloro-3-(4-cyclohexa-2,5-dienylideneamino)-1,4-dihydronaphthalene-1,4-diones, 2-(4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenylamino)-1,4-naphthaquinones, and also to simultaneous oxidation and chlorination.Both polycyclic quinones and quinone imines possess practically important properties [1], but the information on polycyclic compounds containing in a single molecule both quinoid and quinone imine fragments is virtually absent. In this study we examined the experimental approaches to this type compounds.By the reaction of 2,3-dichloro-1,4-naphthoquinone (Iа), 5-hydroxy-2,3-dichloro-1,4-naphthoquinone (Ib) with p-aminophenols, and also by the direct amination of 1,4-naphthoquinone (Ic) 2-(4-hydroxyarylamino)-1,4-naphthoquinones IIа-IIf were obtained and their behavior with respect to oxidants was investigated. We used as oxidants cerium ammonium nitrate and pyridinium R 1 O Cl Cl O Iа, Ib H 2 N OH R 2 R 1 O Cl NH O IIа _ IId OH R 2 R 1 O Cl N O IIIа _ IIIc O R 2 (NH 4 ) 2 Ce(NO 3 ) 6 I, R 1 = H (a), OH (b); II, R 1 = R 2 = H (а); R 1 = H, R 2 = Me (b); R 1 = OH, R 2 = Me (c), H (d); III, R 1 = R 2 = H (а), R 1 = H, R 2 = Me (b), R 1 = OH, R 2 = Me (c).chlorochromate, which had been successfully applied formerly to the preparation of some quinones and quinone imines [2, 3]. The oxidation of 2-chloro-3-(4-hydroxyphenylamino)-1,4-naphthoquinones IIа-IIc with cerium ammonium nitrate led to the formation of the corresponding 2-chloro-3-(4-oxocyclohexa-2,5-dienylideneamino)-1,4-dihydronaphthalene-1,4-diones IIIа-IIIc (the substituents are listed according to the Latin alphabet in order to conserve the numeration of atoms) (Scheme 1).2-Chloro-8-hydroxy-3-(4-hydroxyphenylamino)-1,4-naphthoquinone (IId) was oxidized to the corresponding quinone imine (IIId) with pyridinium chlorochromate Scheme 1.