Ethanol → (4-Dimethylamino-4-phenylcyclohexyl)methanol

Participants

Reaction Steps

4-Dimethylamino-4-phenylcyclohexanecarbaldehyde (2.35 g, 10.2 mmol) was stirred in a mixture of 1 M NaOH (10.2 ml) and ethanol/water (2:1, 60 ml) for 30 min at RT under argon as inert gas. A solution of sodium borohydride (769 mg, 20.3 mmol) in water (40 ml) was then added dropwise at RT over 60 min and the mixture was stirred for 2 h. For the work-up, the ethanol was driven off under vacuum and the aqueous residue was extracted with EE (6×20 ml). The combined extracts were washed with saturated NaCl solution (2×20 ml), dried and concentrated. The resulting residue (2.2 g of brown oil) was a mixture of the two diastereoisomers of (4-dimethylamino-4-phenylcyclohexyl)methanol.

Provenance & Evidence