Hydrogen Peroxide → trans-1-Benzyl-4-(4-methoxyphenyl)piperidin-3-ol

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Reaction Steps

To a suspension of sodium tetrahydroborate (2.7 g, 72 mmol) in THF (200 mL) at 0° C. under a nitrogen atmosphere was added dropwise boron trifluoride etherate (8.8 mL, 70 mmol) and the resulting mixture was stirred for 30 minutes. Then 1-benzyl-4-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (10 g, 36 mmol, from S. Halazy et al WO 97/28140 (8/7/97)) dissolved in 100 mL of tetrahydrofuran was added. The mixture was allowed to warm to rt and stirred for 2 h. The reaction was then quenched by the dropwise addition of 100 mL of water. Next were added sequentially 100 mL of ethanol, 100 mL of a 10% aqueous sodium hydroxide solution, and 30% hydrogen peroxide (18 mL, 180 mmol) and the mixture was stirred at reflux temperature overnight. The reaction mixture was then allowed to cool, diluted with saturated aqueous ammonium chloride (200 mL), and extracted with ethyl acetate (500 mL). The organic layer was dried over Na2SO4, filtered, and evaporated under reduced pressure to give (±)-rel-(3S,4S)-1-benzyl-4-(4-methoxyphenyl)piperidin-3-ol (8.5 g, 24.6 mmol, 69% yield) which was used without further purification. LCMS (Method K) RT 1.99 min; m/z 298.0 (M+H+).

Provenance & Evidence