As a part of our ongoing interest in developing new synthetic strategies for the construction of carbolines, 1 we focused our attention on the intramolecular Heck reaction of 2-iodo-1H-indole -3-carboxylic acid allyl-amide and 3-iodo-1H-indole-2-carboxylic acid allyl-amide derivatives to obtain β- and γ-carbolinone derivatives. The Heck reaction, a palladium catalysed coupling reaction of an aryl or a vinyl halide with an alkene, is a highly efficient and mild procedure ...