Aza-Diels–Alder reactions in ionic liquids: a facile synthesis of pyrano- and furanoquinolines

Room temperature ionic liquids are found to catalyze efficiently the three component-coupling reactions of aldehydes, amines and cyclic enol ethers such as 3,4-dihydro-2H-pyran and 2,3-dihydrofuran under mild and convenient conditions to afford the corresponding pyrano- and furanoquinolines in excellent yields with high endo-selectivity. Interestingly, 2,3-dihydrofuran afforded selectively endo-products under the similar reaction conditions.