The reported formation of 5H-dibenzo[b,e][1,4]diazepin-11(10H)-ones in the noncatalyzed,base-promoted double arylation of anthranilamide revisited. Correction of some product structures

The base-promoted reaction of 2-halonitro- or 1,2-dihalobenzenes with anthranilamide reported by Cao, Ma et al. (Synthesis 2013 , 45, 111) was reinvestigated. Some of the products reported, which have been identified as dibenzodiazepinones, are actually benzoxazole derivatives. In this paper, the correct structures of these products were established and confirmed by independent synthesis. For four other products, the supposed structures were found to be incompatible with the dibenzodiazepinones that were synthesized by the reliable method used in this work.