previous practice in the art the guareschi reaction may be performed in the presence of water consequently gaseous nh 3 can be replaced in the reaction of u03b1 u03b1 u2032 dicyano u03b2 u03b2 pentamethyleneglutarimide by for example an aqueous solution of ammonium hydroxide such aqueous solutions are significantly easier to handle since they avoid many of the environmental concerns that would arise from handling gaseous nh 3 in ethanol accordingly in one embodiment of the invention a ketone is condensed with ethylcyanoacetate in the presence of ammonium hydroxide in another embodiment of the invention the ketone is cyclohexanone a reaction according to the present invention is substantially complete in less than 36 to 48 hours in one embodiment of the invention the reaction process is substantially completed in 24 to 36 hours in a preferred embodiment a reaction according to the present invention is substantially completed in less than 24 hours in one embodiment of the present invention a molar ratio of ethylcyanoacetate ketone is in the range of 1 0 5 to 4 2 in a preferred embodiment of the present invention a molar ratio of ethylcyanoacetate cyclohexanone is 2 1 the organic solvent used in the guareschi reaction can be an alcohol or another polar solvent in a preferred embodiment the solvents are be methanol and ethanol in addition esters of cyanoacetate acid such as for example.