Synthesis of 3-Oxo Quinolines by Cyclization Using Lignin Models and 2-Aminobenzyl Alcohols.

Phenoxy acetophenones were usually employed as β-O-4' lignin models for chemical conversion. Herein, an iridium-catalyzed dehydrogenative annulation between 2-aminobenzylalcohols and phenoxy acetophenones was demonstrated to prepare valuable 3-oxo quinoline derivatives, which are hard to prepare using previous methods. This operationally simple reaction tolerated a wide scope of substrates and enabled successful gram-scale preparation.