A novel iron-catalyzed one-pot multi-component tandemreaction of acetoacetamide, urea, and two molecules of aryl aldehydes has been developed. This reaction provides a general, straightforward, practical and useful method for the preparation of potential bioactive (E)-6-arylvinyl-3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones. They are also versatile precursors leading to diverse drug-like dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-one