Phenoxy acetophenones were usually employed as β-O-4′ lignin models for chemical conversion. Herein, an iridium-catalyzed dehydrogenative annulation between 2-aminobenzylalcohols and phenoxy acetophenones was demonstrated to prepare valuable 3-oxo quinolinederivatives, which are hard to prepare using previous methods. This operationally simple reaction tolerated a wide scope of substrates and enabled