Reaction Steps
3-(3,4-Diethylphenyl)-3-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)acrylonitrile was prepared analogously to methyl 3,3-bis-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)acrylate using 3′,4′-diethyl-3,4-dimethoxybenzophenone (0.51 g, 1.7 mmol), diethylcyanomethylphosphonate (0.31 mL, 1.9 mmol) and lithium hexamethyldisilazide (1.4 mL, 1.9 mmol, 1.3M) with a reaction time of 60 hours at room temperature. The crude product was purified by chromatography (silica gel, 1% ethyl acetate/methylene chloride) to afford an oil which was stirred in hexane until it solidified. The resulting slurry was filtered, the solid washed with hexane, air dried, and dried in vacuo to afford 0.31 g (57%) of a mixture of the E and Z isomers as an off white solid: mp 78-82° C.; 1H NMR (CDCl3) δ7.30-6.75 (m, 12 H), 5.61 (s, 1 H), 5.60 (s, 1 H), 3.94 (s, 3 H), 3.92 (s, 3 H), 3.87 (s, 3 H), 3.83 (s, 3 H), 2.80-2.59 (m, 8 H), 1.35-1.14 (m, 12 H); 13C NMR (CDCl3) δ163.0,163.0, 151.0, 150.5, 148.8, 148.6, 144.6, 143.9, 142.1, 141.8, 136.8, 134.5, 131.9, 129.7, 128.6, 128.5, 128.2, 127.3, 126.3, 123.2, 122.2, 118.7, 118.6, 112.8, 111.3, 110.7, 92.5, 92.2, 56.1, 56.0, 25.5, 25.4, 25.4, 25.3, 15.3, 15.2, 15.0, 14.9; Anal. Calcd for C21H23NO2. Theoretical: C, 78.47; H, 7.21; N, 4.36. Found: C, 77.80; H, 7.25; N, 4.68.
