“…Therefore, if the starting substrates bear acid-or base-labile substituents such as CN, P(O)(OR) 2 , COOR, some heterocyclic moieties (e.g., furanyl) etc., the use of the above conditions would be unsuitable. Thus, several improvements have been achieved in the synthesis of bis(heteroarylidene)cycloalkanones by application of KF-supported reagents under microwave or ultrasonic irradiation [3], Pd/C-mediated synthesis [4], and Lewis acid catalysis including Me 3 SiI (TMSI) [5], Yb(OTf) 3 [6], LiClO 4 in the presence of amines [7], and MgBr 2 · Et 2 O/ MeOH/Et 3 N [8], as well as SmI 3 [9] and FeCl 3 [10] in ionic liquids. Strangely enough, the data concerning improvements of the synthesis of 3,5-bis[(hetero)arylidene]piper-idin-4-ones, which would be more advantageous for further modifications, are restricted to only one report on LiClO 4 -mediated condensation of NH-piperidin-4-one with aromatic aldehydes and thiophene-2-carbaldehyde in the presence of Et 2 NH and under solvent-free conditions [7].…”