Investigations in the field of 1-azabicyclanes

The stereochemistry of the catalytic hydrogenation of 5- and 7-(β-hydroxyethyl)-1,2-dihydropyrrolizines on 2.5% Rh/Al2O3 and Raney nickel under various conditions has been studied. On the basis of information on the configurational catalytic isomerization and the competing quaternization of the isomers, a consideration of the relative retention times, and an analysis of the geometries of the molecules of the 1- and 3-(β-hydroxyethyl)pyrrolizidines a configurational assignment of the stereoisomers has been made.