The structure and configuration of the series of previously unknown arylaminomethylidenefuran-2(3H)-ones have been determined in solution by H, C, N nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy including two-dimensional experiments such as H─ H COSY, dqCOSY, H─ C HSQC, H─ C HMBC. It was found that synthesized substances exist as an equilibrium mixture of E- and Z-enamines in solution. It was established on the basis of density functional theory calculations that the exchange between the two push-pull enamines is a simple rotation around an exocyclic partial double bond that depends on the effect of the solvents. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.