By addition of a catalytic amount of a strong acid and selection of the appropriate solvent, the cycloaddition reactions of dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate (DMAD) to 6-aminopyrimidine derivatives drastically changed their course leading to new products, pyrrolo [3,4-c]pyridines, which were different from those obtained in the absence of acid. This change was interpreted on the basis of acid interception of the non-isolable adducts formed by initial hetero Diels-Alder cycloaddition between the reactants.The hetero Diels-Alder reaction (HDAR) is an important synthetic tool in modern chemistry which provides a direct approach to a large number of heterocyclic systems. 1 In many reported HDARs involving heterocycles as heterodienes, the corresponding [4+2] bicycloadducts are not isolated but postulated as low stability intermediates that suffer further transformations prior to forming the final isolated products. 2 Thus, when we refer to HDARs involving heterocyclic heterodienes, we are in many cases speaking about processes in which the HDAR is just the starting step of a series of two or more chained transformations.In previous papers we reported that several 6-aminopyrimidin-4(3H)-one derivatives, 1, react as electron-rich 2-azadienes towards dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate (DMAD) under appropriate conditions to afford good to excellent yields of 2-aminopyridines, 2. 3,4 These transformations were interpreted in terms of a tandem hetero Diels-Alder/retro-Diels-Alder (HDA/RDA) process (Scheme 1) that was supported by the results of theoretical investigations (PM3 semiempirical methods). 5Recently, we have found that the introduction of a catalytic amount of a protic acid can drastically change the course of these reactions to produce pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyridines, 3, in good yields (Scheme 1). Here, we describe these new results and provide a coherent rationalization based on a modification of the steps subsequent to the initial HDAR. This allows us to propose new conditions which should increase the number of structures that are available through HDARs involving heterocyclic dienes thus extending the synthetic capabilities of many HDA reactions.It was previously reported 3 that the reaction of DMAD and 6-amino-2-methoxy-3-methyl-4(3H)-pyrimidinone (1a) in refluxing acetonitrile afforded the 2-aminopyridine derivative 2a as the main product in good yield (79%). However, when the reaction was performed under similar conditions but in the presence of a catalytic amount of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA, 0.25 mol/mol of 1a) the results were quite different:-None of the 2-aminopyridine derivative 2a was isolated, in addition it was not detected by thin layer chromatography even though its strong blue fluorescence and the availability of a true reference sample make it easily recognizable.-A new compound, not previously isolated from reactions of DMAD and 1a, was the main reaction product; it was characterized as 4-amino-7-carbomethoxy-6-methoxy-2-methyl-1H-pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyridin-1,3(2H)-dione (3a) isolated in 68% yield.-The minor ...