Reaction Steps
3-(3,4-Dimethoxyphenyl)-3-naphth-2-ylacrylonitrile was prepared analogously to methyl 3,3-bis-(3′,4′-dimethoxyphenyl)acrylate using 2-(3,4-dimethoxybenzoyl)naphthalene (2.9 g, 10 mmol), diethylcyanomethylphosphonate (1.8 mL, 11 mmol) and lithium hexamethyldisilazide (8.5 mL, 11 mmol, 1.3M) with a reaction time of 1 hour at reflux. The crude product was purified by chromatography (silica gel, methylene chloride) to afford 2.93 g (93%) of a mixture of the E and Z isomers as a white solid: mp 121-123° C.; 1HNMR (CDCl3) δ8.11-6.78 (m, 20 H), 5.76 (s, 1 H), 5.75 (s, 1 H), 3.96 (s, 3 H), 3.92 (s, 3 H), 3.85 (s, 3 H), 3.80 (s, 3 H); 13C NMR (CDCl3) δ162.7, 162.7, 151.2, 150.6, 148.9, 148.7, 136.6, 134.5, 134.0, 133.8, 132.8, 131.5, 129.7, 129.4, 129.0, 128.6, 128.6, 128.3, 128.1, 127.7, 127.7, 127.4, 127.2, 126.8, 126.6, 125.4, 123.2, 122.2, 118.4, 118.2, 112.7, 111.1, 110.8, 93.9, 93.4, 56.0, 56.0, 55.9; Anal. Calcd for C21H17NO2. Theoretical: C, 79.98; H, 5.43; N, 4.44. Found: C, 79.90; H, 5.65; N, 4.46.
