3,4-Dihydroquinolin-2(1H)-ones have potential biological and pharmacological significance. Enantiomerically pure benzothiazines, readily available via an intramolecular addition of a sulfoximine-stabilized carbanion to an alpha,beta-unsaturated ester, could be used as templates for making a series of enantiomerically pure 3,4-dihydroquinolin-2(1H)-ones under mild conditions.