Competing Michael and Knoevenagel reactions of terpenoids with malononitrile on basic Cs-beta zeolite

Abstract Basic cesium-beta (Cs-beta) zeolite has been synthesized. It proved to be an effective catalyst in reactions of a number of α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds with malononitrile. It is shown that the process is either the Michael or Knoevenagel reaction, or tandem transformations generally initiated by the Michael reaction, which depends on steric hindrance at the carbonyl group and the β-position of the carboncarbon (CC) double bond adjacent to the carbonyl group.