General procedure for the synthesis of 1-(diphenylmethyl)-3-hydroxyazetidine hydrochloride from 1-diphenylmethyl-3-hydroxyazetidine: 1-(diphenylmethyl)-3-hydroxyazetidine (9.70 g) was suspended in a 4.5 M hydrochloric acid solution of ethyl acetate (35 mL) at room temperature and the reaction was stirred for 10 minutes. Subsequently, the solvent was removed by evaporation to give 1-(diphenylmethyl)-3-hydroxyazetidine hydrochloride (12.0 g, 100% yield). The product was characterized by 1H-NMR (300 MHz, DMSO-d6, with TMS as internal standard) with the following chemical shifts (ppm): δ 7.30-7.70 (10H, m, arylhydrogen), 5.85 (1H, s, CH), 5.80 (1H, d, OH), 4.46 (1H, m, CH), 3.70-4.20 (4H, m, CH2 ).
