Triethylamine (6.41 mL) and acetic anhydride (3.49 mL) were added to a commercially available chloroform (50 mL) solution of 4-piperidinemethanol (3.98 g) and stirred at room temperature for 2 hours. Saturated aqueous sodium bicarbonate solution was added to the reaction mixture and the solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure. The resulting residue was purified by silica gel column chromatography (chloroform: methanol = 99:1 to 4:1) and then purified again by NH silica gel column chromatography (ethyl acetate: methanol = 99:1 to 4:1). Purification gave the title compound 1-acetyl-4-piperidine (4.87 g) as a colorless oil.
