9,10-Diarylacridine derivatives were synthesized by the reaction of Schiff base with dimedone using sodium dodecanesulfonate (SDS) as catalyst in aqueous media. An intermediate was separated. The structures of all the products were determined by IR and 1H NMR spectra and the structures of product 10-(4-chlorophenyl)-9-(4-methoxyphenyl)-3,36,6-tetramethyl-3,4,6,7,9,10-hexahydroacridine-1,8(2H,5H)-
dione (3i) and the intermediate 2-{4-chlorophenyl-[2-(4-methoxyphenylamino)-4,4-dimethyl-6-oxocyclo- hex-1-enyl]methyl}-3-hydroxy-5,5-dimethylcyclohex-2-enone (4h) were further confirmed by X-ray analy-sis.

Key words: synthesis, aqueous media, dimedone, 9,10-diarylacridine