Diethyl (ethoxymethylene)malonate → Diethyl [(4-cyanoanilino)methylidene]propanedioate

Participants

Reaction Steps

To 5.00 g (42.3 mmol) 4-aminobenzonitrile (Aldrich, 98%) was added 10.1 g (9.41 mL, 46.6 mmol, 1.1 eq) diethylethoxymethylenemalonate (Aldrich, 99%), and the mixture was dissolved in 50 mL toluene (HPLC grade). The solution was refluxed for four hours with a condensor open to the air. The solution was then poured into 200 mL hexane, and the resulting white precipitate was filtered and washed well with more hexane to yield 10.62 g (37.0 mmol, 85% yield) of the title compound as a slightly off-white solid (per LC/MS and 1H NMR). LC [MH+] 289, 97% purity.

Provenance & Evidence