Abstract: Process for the manufacture of aromatic, heteroaromatic or aliphatic compounds which contain at least one radical of the formula ##STR1## wherein R denotes a hydrogen atom or an alkyl, cycloalkyl or aralkyl radical, characterized in that an aromatic or heteroaromatic compound, which carries one or more electron-donating substituent with negative Brown substitution constants .delta..sub.p .sup.+ and without mobile hydrogen atoms, a .pi.-excess-hetero-aromatic compound or a CH-acid compound is reacted with a 2,2-dicyanoethylene of the formula ##STR2## wherein X is a halogen atom, preferably chlorine or bromine, and R has the abovementioned meaning, without the presence of Lewis acids, in an anhydrous, preferably organic, medium, with an acid-binding agent optionally being added as a further component.