Benzyl 4-(1-hydroxy-1-methylethyl)piperidine-1-carboxylate (1.786 g, 6.44 mmol) was used as starting material and dissolved in methanol (100 ml) under nitrogen protection. A 10% palladium-carbon catalyst (50% wet, 1.37 g) was added, followed by replacement of the gas in the reaction system with hydrogen at atmospheric pressure. The reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for overnight reaction. Upon completion of the reaction, the hydrogen in the reaction system was replaced with nitrogen, then the catalyst was removed by filtration and washed with methanol. The filtrate and washings were combined and the solvent was removed by distillation. Finally, the residue was dried under reduced pressure to afford the target product 2-(4-piperidinyl)-2-propanol (922 mg, 6.44 mmol, quantitative yield) as light gray crystals. The product was characterized by 1H-NMR (CDCl3), δ (ppm): 1.18 (6H, s), 1.26-1.42 (3H, m), 1.74-1.80 (2H, m), 2.57-2.64 (2H, m), 3.14-3.22 (2H, m), 3.48 (1H, s).
