A novel approach to quinazolin-4(3H)-one via quinazoline oxidation: an improved synthesis of 4-anilinoquinazolines

A novel strategy to prepare 4-anilinoquinazoline derivatives based on the oxidation of the quinazoline ring is described. Quinazoline oxidation has been investigated and improved, thus leading to an efficient and high yielding method to quinazolin-4(3H)-ones. Efficiency of this approach has been evaluated synthesizing four well known tyrosine kinase inhibitors and comparing the obtained yields with those achievable through conventional synthetic methods.