Process for preparing vinyl-substituted aromatic compounds from arylamines

A process for the preparation of vinyl-substituted aromatic compounds of the formula Ar--CH.dbd.CH.sub.2, where Ar is a phenol group which optionally bears 1 to 5 substituents, naphthyl or anthryl radical bearing 1 to 7 substituents or an anthryl radical bearing 1 to 8 substituents, or a mononuclear five-, six- or seven-membered heterocyclic aromatic groups which contains an oxygen atom and/or one to two nitrogen atoms in the ring and optionally bears 1 to 5 substituents, comprising the steps of

• reacting an arylamine of the formula (II) Ar--NH.sub.2, where Ar is as defined above,
• with an organic nitrate of the formula (III) R--ONO, where R is an alkyl group having 1 to 18 carbon atoms, a phenyl radical which optionally bears 1 to 3 alkyl groups each having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, or is an alkyl carbonyl group having 2 to 5 carbon atoms, in an organic carboxylic acid, and
• with ethylene, in an organic solvent selected from the group consisting of chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbon, diethyl ether, tert-butyl methyl ether, tetrahydrofuran, dioxane, ethanol, n-propanol, acetonitrile or tert-butanol,
• in the presence of a palladium (0) or a palladium (II) compound as catalysts,
• at temperatures of from 0.degree. to 35.degree. C.