Readily available N-substituted amides or their requisite carboxylicacids or acidchlorides have been used to construct 2,3-disubstituted-3H-quinazolin-4-ones in a one-pot procedure. Key transformation in this convergent approach involves Ph3P–I2-mediated formation of amidine upon condensation of an amide or the intermediate amide with methyl anthranilate. Cyclization of the amidine-tethered anthranilate