A Synthesis of 3-[2-(6, 7-Dimethoxy-1, 2, 3, 4-tetrahydro-1-isoquinolyl) ethyl]-9, 10-dimethoxy-1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7-hexahydro-11bH-benzo [a] quinolizine (rac-c-Noremetine-Pyman)

Ethyleneacetal of nicotinaldehyde was quaternized with 3, 4-dimethoxyphenethyl bromide and the product (I) was oxidized with alkaline potassium ferricyanide, yielding 1-(3, 4-dimethoxyphenethyl)-5-(1, 3-dioxolan-2-yl)-2 (1H)-pyridone (II) in a fair yield, from which the aldehyde (III) was recovered in an excellent yield. (III) will serve as a starting material for various syntheses and in this paper a synthesis of rac-c-noremetine-Pyman was described as such an example.