A novel palladium-catalysed three-component cascade process involving 2-iodobenzoyl chloride or methyl 2-iodobenzoate, allene and primary aliphatic or aromatic amines furnishes N-substituted 4-methylene-3,4-dihydro-1 (2H)-isoquinolin-1-ones in good yield. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.