Abstract Expeditious syntheses of cis-1-methyl-2, 3, 3a, 4, 5, 9b-hexahydro-1H-pyrrolo-[3, 2h] isoquinoline/[2, 3-f] quinoline have been developed. The syntheses started with commercially available materials and afforded excellent overall yields in straightforward steps. Intramolecular azomethine ylide-alkene [3+ 2] cycloaddition is the key step in the construction of these pyrroloisoquinoline and pyrroloquinoline scaffolds. This route is ...