New synthetic route to 2,2,6,6-tetraethylpiperidin-4-one: A key-intermediate towards tetraethyl nitroxides

[Display omitted] •Most tetraethyl aminoxyl radicals are made from 2,2,6,6-tetraethylpiperidin-4-one.•Herein, a new synthetic route to 2,2,6,6-tetraethylpiperidin-4-one was designed.•We deliberately avoided unreliable reactions and pressure reactors.•The late introduction of the nitrogen should provide cheaper 15N-labelled probes. A new synthetic route to 2,2,6,6-tetraethylpiperidin-4-one and derived aminoxyl (nitroxide) radicals is described. In this preliminary work, 2,2,6,6-tetraethylpiperidin-4-one was obtained from ethyl acetoacetate in 3% yield over eight steps, relying only on common reagents and laboratory equipment for organic synthesis.