Abstract: | 3‐oxo‐3‐aryl‐2‐arylhydrazonopropanals (1) have been converted under thermal gas‐phase conditions cleanly into cinnolines (2) . A plausible mechanism is suggested to account for this transformation based on the kinetics and products of reaction. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 33: 402–406, 2001 |