Michael addition reactions of acrylonitrile with p-substituted anilines have been carried out under various experimental conditions in the presence of AlCl3, AlCl3-NaOAc, or AlCl3-ZnCl2, resulting in N-β-cyanoethyl-p-substitutional anilines and N,N-bis(2-cyanoethyl)-p-substitutional anilines in high yields. And all of N,N-bis(2-cyanoethyl)-p-substituted anilines have been characterized by thermogravimetry, ultra-violet absorption spectrum, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance spec-tra, and elemental analyses.

Key words: N-β-cyanoethyl-p-substituted aniline, AlCl3, N,N-bis(2-cyanoethyl)-p-substituted aniline