[dandima]

hi, guys!
usually cinnamic acids derivatives are easily synthetized from malonic acid and aromatic aldehydes in pyridine/piperidine mixture as catalyst but such mixture smells like hell and it is pretty noxious. so, with the aim to avoid such harmfull reagents does someone has any ideea how could i proceed to synthetized the above named compound?
what about na2co3 and a phase transfer catalyst? is it a reliable idea?
have a nice day guys and thank u in advance for any idea
dan

[dexangeles]

maybe under a hood in a chem lab:)

[movies]

The problem is that the cinnamic acid products are one of the stinky components.  You won't be able to avoid that.  Aromatic aldehydes also tend to smell strongly, although not nearly as harsh (benzaldehyde smells like cherries).  The reaction with K₂CO₃ might work, but it would probably be slower since you would be removing the catalyst (piperidine).