Reaction Steps
3-(3,4-Dimethoxyphenyl)-3-(3′-nitrophenyl)acrylonitrile was prepared analogously to methyl 3,3-bis-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)acrylate using 3,4-dimethoxy-3′nitrobenzophenone (1.44 g, 5 mmol), diethylcyanomethylphosphonate (0.91 mL, 5.5 mmol) and lithium hexamethyldisilazide (4.2 mL, 5.5 mmol, 1.3M) with a reaction time of 24 hours at room temperature. The crude product was purified by flash chromatography (silica gel, 3% hexane/methylene chloride) to afford 1.12 g (72%) of a mixture of the E and Z isomers as a yellow solid: mp 117.5-120° C.; 1H NMR (CDCl3) δ8.40-8.17 (m, 4 H), 7.90-7.55 (m, 4 H), 7.08-6.89 (m, 6 H), 5.84 (s, 1 H), 5.71 (s, 1 H), 3.95 (s, 3 H), 3.92 (s, 3 H), 3.88 (s, 3 H), 3.85 (s, 3 H); 13CNMR (CDCl3) δ160.2, 160.1, 151.7, 151.1, 149.2, 148.3, 148.2, 141.0, 138.8, 135.4, 134.4, 129.9, 129.7, 129.7, 128.1, 124.8, 124.6, 124.4, 123.3, 123.1, 122.3, 117.4, 117.3, 112.3, 111.0, 110.4, 95.7, 94.8, 56.0, 55.9; Anal. Calcd for C17H14N2O4. Theoretical: C, 65.80; H, 4.55; N, 9.03. Found: C, 65.57; H, 4.64; N, 8.92.
