A series of 3-substituted 5, 10-dimethoxybenzo [g] isoquinolines were prepared by coupling of terminal alkynes with the tert-butylimine of 3-bromo-1, 4-dimethoxy-2-naphthaldehyde in the presence of a Pd-catalyst and subsequent Cu-catalyzed cyclization of the intermediate 3- alkynyl-2-naphthylcarbaldehyde. A CAN-mediated oxidative demethylation yielded the corresponding 2-azaanthraquinones in excellent yields. Since this methodology proved to ...