Three-component condensation of N,N′-dibenzyl-p-phenylenediamines with cyclic β-diketones and formaldehyde under mild conditions resulted in selective formation of a series of new dispiro derivatives of pyrido[2,3-g]quinoline.Three-component condensation of aromatic amines with aldehydes and cyclic β-dicarbonyl compounds provides a convenient one-step procedure for the synthesis of fused polynuclear heterocyclic systems. This reaction was successfully used to prepare various functionalized derivatives of piperidine [1], benzo[f]quinoline [2], benzoacridine [3, 4], phenanthroline [5], pyrazolo[3,4-b]quinoline [6], pyrimido[4,5-b]quinoline [7], furo[3,4-e]pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine [8], and other heterocyclic systems [9]. In all cases, the starting compounds were electron-rich aromatic monoamines.We previously showed that spiro compounds of the 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline series can readily be obtained by condensation of N-monosubstituted anilines I containing an electron-donating substituent R 1 with formaldehyde (II) and cyclic β-diketones III (Scheme 1) [10]. We presumed that analogous three-component condensation may be performed with aromatic diamines. In this case, the second amino group should not only activate the reaction due to its pronounced electron-donor properties but also participate in condensation, giving rise to new polynuclear nitrogencontaining heterocycles. To verify this assumption, we synthesized a series of symmetric N,N′-disubstituted p-phenylenediamines Ia-If and brought them into three-component condensation with formaldehyde (II) and cyclic β-diketones IIIa and IIIb of the cyclohexane-1,3-dione series. The reactions were carried out in ethanol by heating for a short time in the absence of a catalyst. In fact, the products were those formed from one aromatic diamine molecule and two β-diketone and two formaldehyde molecules. On the basis of the 1 H NMR data, the isolated compounds were assigned the structure of pyrido[2,3-g]quinoline derivatives VIa-VIl (Scheme 2). It should be noted that alternative isomeric heterocyclization products, 4,7-phenanthroline derivatives like VII, were not detected in the reaction mixtures.A probable mechanism of the heterocyclization process is shown in Scheme 3. Spirocyclic pyrido-[2,3-g]quinoline derivatives VIa-VIl are formed via initial reaction of formaldehyde (II) with β-diketone