4-Cyanopyrazole (0.2 mmol), N-phenylmaleimide (0.22 mmol) and Ag2CO3 (2.76 mg, 0.01 mmol, 5 mol%) were miscible in a dry reaction flask (15 ml, pore size 15 mm). The resulting reaction mixture was then stirred in DCE (1 ml) and then the reaction mixture was stirred in an oil bath at 100??C under air atmosphere for 12 hours. The completion of the reaction was monitored by thin layer chromatography and at the end of the reaction the resulting mixture was poured into water (10 ml) and the mixture was extracted three times with DCM (CH2Cl2, 10 mL ?? 3) and the combined organic layers were dried over anhydrous Na2SO4. The desiccant was removed by filtration and the resulting filtrate was concentrated in vacuo. Finally, the resulting residue was purified by silica gel column chromatography to obtain the target product molecule.
