Palladium-catalyzed intramolecular amidation of C(sp2)-H bonds: synthesis of 4-aryl-2-quinolinones.

A catalytic synthetic approach for the synthesis of 2-quinolinone compounds through a Pd-catalyzed C(sp(2))-H functionalization/intramolecular amidation sequence is described. The cyclization process efficiently proceeds in the presence of a catalytic amount of PdCl(2) and Cu(OAc)(2) under an O(2) atmosphere, providing practical access to a range of variously substituted 4-aryl-2-quinolinones.