Abstract
The condensation of substituted cinnamaldehydes and arylacetonitriles using sodium ethoxide in ethanol at room temperature afforded 2,5-diaryl-2,4-pentadienenitriles in good yield. The structure of the reaction products was established on the basis of their infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance and elemental analysis data. Two representative compounds were studied for their mutagenic activity. One of them showed a weak mutagenicity while the second showed a high mutagenic activity in TA97a Salmonella strain. Both were negative in TA100. Some of these pentadienenitriles showed fluorescence in solutions.