Claisen rearrangement/Baylis-Hillman reaction/ring-closing metathesis as bases for the construction of substituted cyanonaphthalenes

The present paper described how to establish a novel approach for various alkoxycyanonaphthalenes. It was started from isovanillin, and based on the Claisen rearrangement, O-alkylation, the Baylis-Hillman reaction, and ring-closing metathesis in sequence to produce the title compounds in good yield.