The general procedure for the synthesis of 4-hydroxymethylpiperidine from ethyl 4-piperidinecarboxylate was as follows: lithium aluminum hydride (LiAlH4, 10.10 g, 0.266 mol) was suspended in tetrahydrofuran (THF, 150 mL) at 0 °C. Subsequently, a solution of ethyl 4-piperidinecarboxylate (18.13 g, 0.120 mol) dissolved in THF (300 mL) was slowly added. The reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature overnight. After the reaction was completed, it was cooled in an ice bath and a mixture of water (14 mL) and THF (28 mL) was slowly added. Next, a mixture of 15% aqueous sodium hydroxide (14 mL) and water (37 mL) was added and stirring was continued for 30 minutes at room temperature. The reaction mixture was filtered to remove the precipitate and the filtrate was concentrated to give 17.88 g of the target product 4-hydroxymethylpiperidine in quantitative yield.
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