Rapid assembly of octahydro-dipyrroloquinoline scaffold starting from pyrrolidine^a.

Entry	Base (eq.)	Pyrrolidine (eq.)	Solvent	Time (h)	Yield (%)
lb	DABCO (0.2)	5	PhCH3	72	16
2	DABCO (0.2)	5	PhCH3	72	43
3	DABCO (0.2)	1.1	PhCH3	72	50
4	DBU (0.2)	1.1	PhCH3	72	24
5	DIPEA (0.2)	1.1	PhCH3	72	60
6	DIPEA (0.2)	1.1	i-PrOH	8	35
7	DIPEA (0.2)	1.1	TFE	3	63
8c	DIPEA (0.2)	1.1	TFE	3	71
9c	DIPEA (0.5)	1.1	TFE	3	77
10c	DIPEA (0.1)	1.1	TFE	3	82

^aReactions were performed with pyrrolidine, quinone monoacetal 2 (1.0 mmol), and base in solvent (3 mL) under reflux condition, isolated yield.

^bReaction was performed at 60 °C.

^cTFE (10 mL) was used.