“…p -Toluidine (429 mg, 4.0 mmol, 1.0 equiv) and 2-bromo-4′-nitroacetophenone (976 mg, 4.0 mmol, 1.0 equiv) were treated with sodium hydrogen carbonate (336 mg, 4.0 mmol, 1.0 equiv) in ethanol (10 mL) and water (10 mL) according to General Procedure 2 for 2 h, and then the crude product was purified by recrystallization (CHCl 3 /pentane) to give the title compound 16j (971 mg, 90%) as a red solid: mp 127 °C dec (lit. 147–150 °C); 46 ν max (film) 3032, 2924, 2866, 1678, 1601, 1524, and 1346 cm –1 ; 1 H NMR (400 MHz, 22.2 °C, CDCl 3 ) δ 8.37 (2 H, d, J = 8.8 Hz, Ar), 8.18 (2 H, d, J = 8.8 Hz, Ar), 7.05 (2 H, d, J = 8.4 Hz, Ar), 6.65 (2 H, d, J = 8.4 Hz, Ar), 4.74 (1 H, br s, NH), 4.66 (2 H, s, CH 2 ) and 2.26 (3 H, s, CH 3 ); 13 C{ 1 H} NMR (101 MHz, 23.0 °C, CDCl 3 ) δ 194.1 (C=O), 150.7 (Ar), 144.4 (Ar), 139.4 (Ar), 130.0 (2 × ArH), 128.9 (2 × ArH), 127.6 (Ar), 124.1 (2 × ArH), 113.2 (2 × ArH), 51.4 (CH 2 ) and 20.4 (CH 3 ); HRMS (ESI-TOF) m / z [M + H] + calcd for C 15 H 15 N 2 O 3 + 271.1077; found 271.1084.…”