Water → [1-Benzyl-4-(4-fluorophenyl)piperidin-3-YL]methanol

58 ml (203 mmol) of sodium dihydrido-bis-(2-methoxyethoxy)aluminate (70% in toluene) were added dropwise under argon at room temperature while stirring to a solution of 17.4 g (58.5 mmol) of (RS)-[1-benzyl-4-(4-fluoro-phenyl)-1,2,3,6-tetrahydro-pyridin-3-yl]-methanol in 580 ml of absolute toluene. Subsequently, the mixture was stirred at 80° C. for 4 hours. 100 ml of water were added dropwise to the reaction mixture at room temperature, with working-up thereafter being carried out by extraction with water and ethyl acetate. The crude product was chromatographed on silica gel with hexane and ethyl acetate as the eluent. There were obtained 3.90 g (44% of theory) of (3RS,4SR)-[1-benzyl-4-(4-fluoro-phenyl)-piperidin-3-yl]-methanol; MS: 300 (M+H)+.