A domino
annulation/oxidation of heterocyclic ketene aminals (HKAs)
and 2-aminochalcones has been developed for the selective synthesis
of poly-substituted benzo[f]imidazo[2,1-a][2,7]naphthyridines and 3-azaheterocyclic substituted 2-arylquinolines.
These reactions proceed well under mild conditions without any additives.
Plausible mechanisms for such a polycyclic ring system assembly were
also proposed. Moreover, benzo[f]imidazo[2,1-a][2,7]naphthyridine 3g displayed a fluorescence
effect, demonstrating the potential applications in organic optical
materials.