Vinyl benzylcyanide (2.2 g, 0.0154 mol) was dissolved in methanol (10 mL) and 4-(diphenylamino)benzaldehyde (1 ME, 0.0154 mol, 4.2 g) was added, followed by the addition of pyrrolidine (1.5 ME, 0.0231 mol, 1.64 g, 1.9 mL). The resulting reaction mixture was heated at reflux overnight under argon. TLC analysis on the mixture (H:EA, 8.5:1.5) showed the formation of a yellow coloured product along with some unreacted vinyl benzylcyanide. The reaction mixture was purified by column chromatography (hexane:ethyl acetate, 8.5:1.5). After chromatography, the pure product, AG1-78, was obtained as a yellow colloured brightly fluorescent material solid (1.5 g, 23%), 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3) δ 5.3 (d, 1H, ethylene —CH), δ5.8 (d, 1H, ethylene-CH), δ 6.7 (m, 1H), δ 7.1 (m, 8H), δ 7.3 (m, 4H), δ 7.45 (m, 3H), δ 7.6 (dd, 2H), δ 7.7 (dd, 2H), 13C NMR (CDCl3, ppm, δ): 149.94, 146.60, 141.18, 137.85, 135.97, 134.34, 130.66, 129.56, 126.75, 126.44, 125.78, 125.70, 124.37, 120.89, 118.66, 114.81, 107.38.
