Fast, Base-Free and Aqueous Synthesis of Quinolin-2(1H)-ones under Ambient Conditions

Without using any base and organic solvent, an environmentally benign methodology was developed for the aqueous synthesis of various functionalized quinolin-2(1H)-ones at ambient temperature. The developed protocol has a wide substrate scope, excellent to quantitative yields, short reaction time (1–8 min), operational simplicity, reusable reaction medium and avoids further chromatographic purification. More importantly, this methodology is markedly greener than the traditional routes with an E-factor of 1.6 and eco-scale score of 89.5.