Syntheses of various imidazoles and their derivatives, imidazole N-oxides and 1-hydroxyimidazole 3-oxides, from sterically different dicarbonyl moieties provided insights into the self-catalytic effect of the condensed phase reactions of carbonyl compounds. The self-catalytic activity in solvent-free multi-component syntheses was investigated using a combination of methods viz., reactivity, spectroscopy