Powdered sodium hydroxide (88 mg, 2.2 mmol) was added to a solution of 3-trifluoromethoxyphenyl hydrazine hydrochloride (503 mg, 2.2 mmol) and 2-cyano-3-methylthio-3-(4-tolyl)acrylamide (464 mg, 2.0 mmol) in ethanol (20 ml) and the mixture heated at reflux for 18 h. On cooling, the solvent was removed under reduced pressure and the residue partitioned between water (80 ml) and ethyl acetate (100 ml). The aqueous layer was further extracted with ethyl acetate (2×80 ml) and the combined organic layers washed with brine (100 ml), dried (MgSO4) and concentrated under reduced pressure. The crude product was recrystallised from isopropyl ether-heptane to give the title compound as white needles (320 mg) m.p. 177-179°. δH (CDCl3) 7.70 (1H, m), 7.51 (1H, d, J 8.0 Hz), 7.38 (1H, d, J 8.0 Hz), 7.40 (1H, m), 7.09 (1H, d, J 7.9 Hz), 5.74 (2H, br s), 5.35 (2H, br s) and 2.42 (9H, s).
