Elimination ring-opening, piperidine

Comparable speed gains were also obtained for another Kemp elimination featuring the piperidine-catalyzed ring opening of benzisoxazole in the condensed-phase environment provided by the ionic liquid l-butyl-3-methylimida-zolium hexafluorophosphate, [BMIM][PF6], (Scheme 2) [23]. While these... 

Here the alcoholic hydroxyl is first protonated and then eliminated as water. The allylcarbenium ion (2) is initially stabilized by elimination of the proton at C-14. Then the ether link is opened after protonation of the ring oxygen with the formation of carbenium ion (3), whereby the neighboring C-C bond of the piperidine ring is cleaved with aromatization of the C ring. The carbenium ion (4) formed is stabilized by elimination of a proton and ring closure to apomorphine (5). 

Pyridine (and quinoline) which in so many respects are aromatic and comparable to benzene, lose this character completely on hydrogenation to piperidine (and hydroquinoline), which are entirely of the same nature as secondary aliphatic amines. The completely hydrogenated heterocyclic bases undergo degradation reactions which have become important particularly in the investigation of the constitution of alkaloids. A. W. Hofmann s method of opening rings by means of exhaustive methylation may be illustrated with piperidine. By thermal decomposition of the quaternary ammonium base a C—N-link-age is broken and at the same time water is eliminated. 

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