3-Hydroxy-2-hydroxymethyl-6-substituted piperidines

Although the hydroxy group is a relatively poor leaving group, its base-catalyzed nucleophilic substitution by the mechanism shown in Scheme 69 accounts not only for the hydrogenolysis of the 3-hydroxymethylindoles, but also for their SN reactions with ethoxide ions, cyanide ions and with piperidine. Nucleophilic substitution on 2-hydroxymethyl-pyrroles is generally precluded by the faster formation of the bis(2-pyrrolyl)methanes, but the synthesis of 2-cyano-2-(2,5-dimethyl-3-pyrroIyl) propanes from 2,5-dimethylpyrrole, propanone and potassium cyanide probably results from an SN reaction of the cyanide ion upon the initially formed 3-pyrrolylcarbinol (81USP4248784). The formation of (294)... 

In a similar manner, the 2-cyano-6-oxazolopiperidine synthon is useful for the chiral synthesis of in-dolizidine (monomerine piperidine [(+)- and (-)-coniine and dihydropinidine] and quinolizidine alkaloids.2-Hydroxymethyl-1-amino-1-cyclopropanecarboxylic acid (-)-(2I )-hydroxy-(3S)-nonylamine and a-substituted phenylethylamines are obtained in optically active form from (-)-N-cyanomethyl-4-phenyloxazolidine. 

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