Aldol condensation of cycloheptanone (I) with two molecules of 4-amidinobenzaldehyde.HCl (II) in 85% phosphoric acid at 100 C provided the E,E-bis(benzylidene) compound (III). Photoisomerization of (III) in a H2O-acetonitrile solution produced an equilibrium mixture of a 55% of E,Z isomer (IV), a 40% of Z,Z isomer (V), and < 5% of the starting E,E isomer (III), which were separated by reverse-phase HPLC.
The condensation of cycloheptanone (I) with 4-iodobenzaldehyde (II) gives the (E,E)-bis-benzylidene derivative (III), which by irradiation with UV light is converted into the (Z,Z)-isomer (IV). The reaction of (IV) with CuCN in DMF affords the mono-cyano derivative (V), which is then treated with Cu-11CN in DMF to provide the labeled dicyano derivative (VI). Finally, this compound is treated with ammonia in methanol to afford the target labeled bis-amidino derivative.