Natarajan Srikanth, Choon-Hong Tan, Siu-Choon Ng, Teck-Peng Loh, Lip-Lin Koh and Keng-Yeow Sim
The synthesis of(E/Z )-1-aryl-2-phenyl-1-(2-thienyl/selenophen-2-yl)but-1-enes, derived from2-phenyl-1-(2-thienyl/selenophen-2-yl)butan-1-ones, is described;the key steps in the synthesis involve the reaction of thebutan-1-ones with 4-(2-morpholinoethoxy)phenyl bromide, followedby dehydration of the resulting carbinols to give the targetcompounds which are separated by fractionalrecrystallisation.