Methyl iodide → 1-(Isoquinolin-5-yl)ethanol

To a mixture of Mg turnings (0.2 g, 7.9 mmol) in ether (10 mL) was added MeI (1.13 g, 7.9 mmol) slowly at RT under an inert atmosphere. After being stirred for 1 h at RT, the reaction mixture was cooled to −10° C. and a solution of isoquinoline-5-carbaldehyde (0.5 g, 3.18 mmol) in ether (10 mL) was added. The reaction mixture was then stirred for an additional hour at RT, quenched with saturated NH4Cl solution and extracted with EtOAc (3×50 mL). The combined organic layers were washed with water and brine, dried over Na2SO4, filtered and concentrated in vacuo to obtain the crude product. The crude material was purified via silica gel column chromatography using 30% ethyl acetate in hexanes to afford 1-(isoquinolin-5-yl)ethanol (0.53 g, 97%) as an off-white solid.