with excess Mel at 5°o vernight. The reaction mixt was evapd to dryness and the residue was crystd from Me,C0-Et,0 to furnish colorless needles of VIb in almost quantitative yield: mp 195°; the quaternary 7V-Me group signaled at 3.30 (9 H, s) in the nmr (D,0) spectrum.2,3-Dihydrohelenalin (II). 2,3-Dihydrohelenalin could be readily synthesized in quantitative yield from any one of the following 3 methods.(a) A soln of VIb (30 mg) in , (1 ml) was heated on a steam bath for 30 min. The reaction mixt was acidified with 5% HC1 and extd with CHCl,, washed with , , dried (NajSOJ, and evapd. The residue was purified in CHCl, by passing through a column of silica gel (0.6 X 3.5 cm) to provide II as fine colorless silky needles after one recrystn from CH,Cl,-hexane: mp 154-155°; nmr 4.88 (1 H, t, /= 7.5 cps, H-8), 4.30 (1 H, d,/= 3 cps, H-6), 1.08 (3 H, d,/ = 6 cps, C10-CH,) and 0.78 (3 H, s, C,-CH,).(b) A soln of VIb (67 mg) in MeOH (20 ml) was treated with excess of freshly prepared Ag,0 and stirred for 30 min at room temp. The reaction mixt was filtered and evapd in vacuo to yield II as an oil. This was chromatogd in CHCl, on silica gel (0.3 X 3 cm) to give colorless needles (35 mg) after one recrystn from PhH-EtOH: mp 154-155°.(c) A soln of VIb (18 mg) in 5% aq NaHCO, soln (5 ml) was stirred at room temp for 1 hr. The reaction mixt was acidified with dil HC1 and extd with CHCl,. The CHCl, ext was washed with , , dried (NajSO,), and evapd to yield 10 mg of II as colorless needles after 1 recrystn from benzene-EtOH: mp 154-155°.Helenalin from Method b. Treatment of Vb (20 mg) in a similar manner as described for II (method b) afforded I as colorless needles. The identity of this compd with helenalin was established by tic, ir comparison, and mmp determination.11.13-DihydrohelenaUn (III) was prepd according to the method of Adams and Herz.4 2.3.11.13-Tetrahydrohelenalin (IV) was prepd by the method of Clark5 and melted at 171-173°.Helenalin Piperidine Adduct (Vg). A soln of helenalin (I) (100 mg) in freshly distd piperidine (1 ml) was allowed to stand at room temp overnight. The reaction mixt was dild with H,0 and extd with CHCl,. The CHCl, layer was washed with , , dried (Na^OJ, and evapd under reduced pressure to yield a residue (30 mg) which crystd upon addn of Et,0. Recrystn from CH,C1,-Et,0 gave colorless