A series of novel aryl and thiophenyl tethered dihydro-6H-quinolin-5-ones have been synthesized in very good yields through CeCl3· 7H2O–NaI catalyzed one-pot condensation of β-enaminones derived from the respective methyl ketones; 1, 3-cyclohexanedione & 5, 5- dimethyl-1, 3-cyclohexanedione and ammonium acetate refluxing in 2-propanol. Dihydro-6H- quinolin-5-ones 3a–f was further derivatized to the respective hydroxymethyl analogs ...