Dicobaltoctacarbonyl has been found to bean effective catalyst for the conversion of diallylanilines to quinolines. Arylimines are also found to undergo heteroannulation in the presence of diallylaniline as allyl fragment donor to give quinolines. Imines can also be allylated to give quinoline derivatives. Initial studies of the scope and mechanism of the reaction are presented. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.