A facile one-pot expeditious synthesis of 2-amino-4H-pyrans and 2-amino-5-oxo-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-4H-chromenes has been described under solvent-free conditions using magnesium oxide as a catalyst in very good yields. The reaction catalyst, magnesium oxide was reused and recycled without any loss of activity and product yield. All the synthesized compounds were screened for in vitro antibacterial activity, and compounds 3a, 3b, 3f, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e and 4g showed complete inhibition of bacterial growth at 128 microg/mL or less and the rest of the compounds exhibited incomplete inhibition.