One‐Pot Synthesis of Highly Substituted Quinolines in Aqueous Medium and Its Application for the Synthesis of Azalignans

A new one-pot method has been developed for the synthesis of highly substituted quinoline derivatives from alpha-amino ketone derivatives/glycine esters/glycine amide and aromatic/aliphatic alkynes/alkenyl esters using molecular I-2, K2CO3, and tetra butyl ammonium bromide (TBAB) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant combination in water at room temperature within 30-50 min. in moderate to good yields. This protocol has advantages like oxidant free, aqueous medium, simple operation, tolerance of various substrates, and useful for the synthesis of bioactive aza-lignans.