Gold(III) chloride-catalyzed three-component reaction: a facile synthesis of alkynyl derivatives of 1,2-dihydroquinolines and isoquinolines.

Gold(III) chloride is found to be an effective catalyst for the addition of alkynes on activated quinoline/isoquinolines to produce a series of alkynyl-substituted 1,2-dihydroquinolines and isoquinolines in a single-step operation. The easy availability of starting materials, convenient synthetic procedure, operational simplicity, and high regioselectivity makes this strategy very useful for the preparation of enyne derivatives of aza-aromatic compounds.