“…This work is the first to report the syntheses of 4a, 4c, 4e, 4i, 4j, 4k derivatives, and their structures were determinate by NMR spectroscopy (Supplementary material). Melting points for all these new derivatives are listed in Supplementary material, whereas that of other derivatives are provided in the literature (Table 1) [60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68] . First, for the synthesis of (Z)-4-oxo-4-(aryl)but-2-enoic acid skeleton structure, the derivatives 5-17 were treated with maleic anhydrate at room temperature.…”