Copper‐Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidative Annulation and Carbon‐Carbon Bond Cleavage of Arylacetamides: Domino Synthesis of Fused Quinazolinones

An efficient copper‐catalyzed tandem aerobic oxidative annulation and carbon‐carbon bond cleavage reaction was developed from easily accessible arylacetamides, which provides a direct approach for the domino synthesis of a vast array of tricyclic or tetracyclic fused quinazolinone alkaloid structures. A plausible reaction mechanism is proposed involving an aerobic benzylic oxidation/cyclization/decarbonylation cascade.