Facile Synthesis of 3-Alkoxy-4-cyanothiophenes As New Building Blocks for Donor-Acceptor Conjugated Systems

3-Alkoxy-4-cyanothiophenes are efficiently synthesized in two steps from the readily available 4-cyano-3-oxotetrahydrothiophene. Regioisomers of bithiophene derivatives are easily synthesized by playing on the strong electronic dissymmetry of the thiophene ring induced by the alkoxy and cyano groups.