Oxidative coupling of l-alkyl(benzyl)-4-(y-pyri.dyl)-l,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridines with acetone in the presence of KMnO 4 follows two pathways and yields both I-R-2-(acetylmethy[ene)tetrahydropyridines and 1-R-3,4-dihydroxypiperidin-2-ones. When acetonitrile is used instead of acetone, the reaction under similar conditions occurs as selective ketodihydroxylation of the starting piperideines yielding l-R-3,4-dihydroxy-4-(y-pyridyl)piperidin-2-ones. The molecular and ccystal structures of one of these products (R = Et) was studied by X-ray diffraction analysis.Key words: oxidative coupling, ketodihydroxylation, 1-R-4-(~,-pyridyl)-l,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridines, 1-R-3,4-dihydroxy-4-('t-pyridyl)piperidin-2-ones, 1-R-2-acetylmethylene-4-(7-pyridyl)-l,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridines; NMR, X-ray diffraction analysis; molecular and crystal structures.Previously, 1,z in a study dealing with modification of the Wagner oxidation, we discovered a new reaction, namely, oxidative C--C-coupling of ct-methylketones with 4-aryltetrahydropyridines resulting in the formation of 2-acylmethylene derivatives of tetrahydropyridine. When acetone was used as the methyl-active component, 2-(acetylmethylene)tetrahydropyridines were isolated in yields of up to 70%.This condensation was carried out in the presence of KMnO 4 under mild conditions (-25 ~ and could be complicated by dihydroxylation of the double bonds in the initial tetrahydropyridines. This was not observed in our experiments, which is in agreement with the data 3 that 4-phenyltetrahydropyridines are inert under conditions of the Wagner reaction. However, when we studied the possibility of coupling of acetonitrile with 4-aryltetrahydropyridines, we obtained 4-phenyl-3,4-dihydroxypiperidin-2-ones a in good yields and with high regioselectivity rather than the coupling products, and in the case of bulky 4-[2.2]paracyclophanyl substituent, the reaction yielded tetrahydropyridin-2-one, s " For part 4, see Ref. 1 The present study dealing with the reaction of 4-heterylpiperideines was stimulated by the fact that the course and the extent of the oxidative transformations of 4-aryltetrahydropyridines in aqueous acetone and in aqueous acetonitrile in the presence of KlVlnO 4 are appreciably influenced by the nature of the methylactive component, the temperature of the reaction, and the character of the substituent at C(4) in 3-piperideine. As the heterocyclic substituent, we chose the 7-pyridyl group, which increases both the polarization of the double bond and the CH-acidity of the methylene group in the allylamine fragment of the piperideine and is thus favorable for the formation of dihydroxylactams or for oxidative coupling. If these reactions occur by radical mechanisms, the pyridyl nucleus could inhibit oxidative processes, especially C--C-coupling. The transformations studied in this work are shown in Scheme 1. The following initial tetrahydropyridines were used: 1-methyl-(5), t-ethyl-(6), and l-benzyl-4-(7-pyridyl)-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridines (7). These compounds were synthesized by t...