“…The residue was dissolved in 15 mL of acetic acid treated with 5.0 mL of sulfuric acid and refluxed for 2 h. After cooling to ambient temperature, the mixture was poured onto crushed ice, and the crude product was filtered and dried. Crystallization from ethanol afforded 2.56 g (70.0%) of 5-methyl-3,3-diphenylpiperidine-2,6-dione: mp 184−186 °C (lit . 183−186 °C); 1 H NMR (CDCl 3 , 300 MHz) δ 8.00 (br s, 1H), 7.25−7.45 (m, 8H), 7.06−7.09 (m, 2H), 2.66 (d, J = 9.6 Hz, 2H), 2.45 (m, 1H), 1.31 (d, J = 6.3 Hz, 3H); 13 C NMR (CDCl 3 , 75.4 MHz) δ 138.69, 129.30, 128.37, 128.00, 63.83, 21.42.…”