Treatment of 5-nitroisoquinoline (I) with hydroxylamine and KOH produced 5-nitro-8-aminoisoquinoline (II). Subsequent hydrogenation of (II) over Pd/C gave diamine (III), which was then oxidized to the dichloroquinone (IV) by means potassium chlorate and concentrated HCl. Finally, displacement of the 7-chloro atom of (IV) with p-anisidine (V) in refluxing EtOH yielded the title compound.