The kinetics and mechanism of the nucleophilic vinylic substitution of dialkyl (alkoxymethylidene)malonates (alkyl: methyl, ethyl) and (ethoxymethylidene)malononitrile with substituted hydrazines and anilines R 1 -NH 2 (R 1 : (CH 3 ) 2 N, CH 3 NH, NH 2 , C 6 H 5 NH, CH 3 CONH, 4-CH 3 C 6 H 4 SO 2 NH, 3-and 4-X-C 6 H 4 ; X: H, 4-Br, 4-CH 3 , 4-CH 3 O, 3-Cl) were studied at 25 C in methanol. It was found that the reactions with all hydrazines (the only exception was the reaction of (ethoxymethylidene)malononitrile with N,N-dimethylhydrazine) showed overall second-order kinetics and k obs were linearly dependent on the hydrazine concentration which is consistent with the rate-limiting attack of the hydrazine on the double bond of the substrate. Corresponding Brønsted plots are linear (without deviating N-methyl and N, N-dimethylhydrazine), and their slopes (b Nuc ) gradually increase from 0.59 to 0.71 which reflects gradually increasing order of the C-N bond formed in the transition state. The deviation of both methylated hydrazines is probably caused by the different site of nucleophilicity/basicity in these compounds (tertiary/secondary vs. primary nitrogen). A somewhat different situation was observed with the anilines (and once with N,N-dimethylhydrazine) where parabolic dependences of the kinetics gradually changing to linear dependences as the concentration of nucleophile/base increases. The second-order term in the nucleophile indicates the presence of a steady-state intermediate -most probably T AE . Brønsted and Hammett plots gave b Nuc = 1.08 and r = À3.7 which is consistent with a late transition state whose structure resembles T AE .