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The treatment of 2-(2-alkylethynyl) benzonitrile with sodium methoxide in methanol gave 3-alkyl-1(2H)-isoquinolinone in modest yield. Under the same reaction conditions methanolysis of 2-(2-arylethynyl)benzonitrile lead to the formation of 3-alkylidene isoindol-1-one. Partial hydrolysis of 2- (1-hexynyl) benzonitrile to the corresponding benzamide, followed by the treatment of the benzamide with sodium methoxide gave 3-pentylidene isoindol-1-one in 11% yield. This result suggests that benzamide is not the intermediate in the formation of isoquinolinone. The more plausible mechanism of this methanolysis process involved the iminium anion cycloaromatization to form 2-methoxyisoquinoline with subsequently hydrolyzed into isoquinolinone. In one case, 2-methoxyisoquinoline product was isolated.
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