Synthesis and biological activity of novel cyanoacrylates containing ferrocenyl moiety

In a search for new herbicides with improved biological properties and different activity spectrum, we replaced phenyl moiety by ferrocenyl in cyanoacrylates, and synthesized a series of novel cyanoacrylates containing a ferrocene moiety by the reaction of aminomethylferrocene with ethoxyethyl 2-cyano-3-methylthioacrylate (or 2-cyano-3-alkoxyacrylates) in excellent yields. The title compounds were identified by IR, 1H-NMR spectroscopy, EI MS and elemental analyses. The results of bioassay showed that some title compounds exhibit excellent herbicidal activities. In general, we found that the replacement of the phenyl with ferrocenyl in cyanoacrylates still retained excellent herbicidal activities.