A carbonyl compound of the formula ##STR1## in which R.sup.1 denotes hydrogen, aryl, substituted aryl or a straight-chain or cyclic, saturated or unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbon radical, which is optionally interrupted by O, S, N, N-alkyl, N-aryl or N-aralkyl, and which is optionally substituted by hydroxyl, alkoxy, alkyl, trifluoromethyl, halogen, phenyl, alkoxycarbonyl or dialkylamino, the two alkyl radicals together with the nitrogen atom optionally forming a 5 to 7-membered ring, which optionally contains a heteroatom from the group comprising O, S, NH or N-alkyl and these aforementioned alkyl and phenyl radicals in turn optionally being substituted by halogen, trifluoromethyl, alkyl, aryl, aralkyl, alkoxy, alkylmercapto or SO.sub.2 -alkyl, R.sup.2 represents the radical CXR.sup.8, R.sup.8 having the meaning indicated for R.sup.1 and being identical to or different from R.sup.1, and X representing oxygen, sulphur or the radical NR.sup.9 R.sup.10, R.sup.9 and R.sup.10 being identical or different and each having the meanings of R.sup.1 and being identical to or different from R.sup.1 ; or represents the radical SO.sub.n R.sup.11, n denoting 1 or 2 and R.sup.11 having the meaning indicated for R.sup.1 and being identical to or different from R.sup.1, or R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 together represent a group of the general formula .dbd.C(R.sup.12)(Y--R.sup.13), Y representing oxygen, sulphur, NH or N-alkyl, and R.sup.12 and R.sup.13 each having the meaning indicated for R.sup.1, being identical to or different from one another and R.sup.1, and optionally together forming, with inclusion of .dbd.C--Y, a 5 to 7-membered ring, which optionally contains a heteroatom from the group comprising O, S, NH or N-alkyl, R.sup.3 has the meaning indicated for R.sup.1 and is identical to or different from R.sup.1, or represents furyl, phenyl, thienyl, pyrimidyl, pyrazinyl, quinolinyl, isoquinolinyl or pyridyl, the rings optionally being substituted by 1, 2 or 3 identical or different substituents from the group comprising alkyl, aryl, alkoxy, halogen, nitro, trifluoromethyl, SO.sub.n -alkyl (n=0, 1 or 2) or NR.sup.9 R.sup.10, R.sup.9 and R.sup.10 having the meaning indicated above, and R.sup.4 represents hydrogen, trifluoromethyl or alkyl. These compounds are useful as intermediates in the preparation of alkene carboxamides which are useful as antihypertensives, diuretics and uricosuric agents.
This is a division, of application Ser. No. 789,689, filed Oct. 21, 1985, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,905; which is a division of Ser. No. 468,737, filed Feb. 22, 1983, issued Apr. 29, 1986, U.S. No. 4,585,873.
