A one-pot three-component reaction in aqueous micellar medium: an easy route to chromeno[2,3-b]quinolinedione

An efficient and green synthesis of hitherto unreported 5-aryl-3,3-dimethyl-2,3-dihydro-5aH-chromeno[2,3-b]quinoline-1,11(4H,5H)dione has been accomplished by a three-component reaction involving chromone-3-carbaldehyde, an aromatic amine, and 5,5-dimethyl-1,3-cyclohexanedione (dimedone) in 1.8 M aqueous TBAB solution. It is noteworthy that the TBAB/H2O system can be recovered and reused for seven cycles directly.