1-Isoquinolinecarbonitrile

1-Isoquinolinecarbonitrile may be used as starting reagent in the syntheses of imidazo[5,1-a]isoquinolines.

Phosphoryl chloride (0.54 g, 3.5 mmol) in chloroform (5 mL) was added dropwise to a solution of the requisite carbaldoxime (0.2 g, 1.2 mmol) in chloroform (10 mL) under ice-cooling. The mixture was heated under reflux for 4 h, treated with iced water, and the resulting precipitate was filtered off. The filtrate was basified with 28% ammonia and then extracted with chloroform to give 1-cyanoisoquinoline 1440; yield 0.17 g (95%).

The Journal of Organic Chemistry, 49, p. 4056, 1984 DOI: 10.1021/jo00195a036
Tetrahedron Letters, 19, p. 589, 1978

Effect of magnetic field on the photosubstitution reaction of 1-isoquinolinecarbonitrile in ethanol has been reported. Conjugated polynitrile, plasma-polymerized 1-isoquinolinecarbonitrile (PPIQCN) has been prepared by plasma polymerization.