Discovery of intermolecular cascade annulation for dihydrobenzo[][1,8]naphthyridine-ylidene-pyrrolidinetriones.

Developing efficient procedures for the synthesis of combinations of pharmacophores continues to be a vital objective in synthetic science. Herein, we report an unprecedented family of dihydrobenzo[][1,8]naphthyridine-ylidene-pyrrolidinetriones achieved by reacting -halogenated quinolonechalcones with aminomaleimides under metal-free conditions. Among these compounds, several exhibit the potential to serve as fluorescent dyes for biological applications.