The possibility of building the condensed ring system found in cytisinel from either ethyl 2- pyridone-&acetate (IIa) or ethyl 2-ethoxy-6-pyridylacetate (IVe) as the starting material stimulated a study of the syntheses and some of the reactions of these two compounds. The results are described in this Communication. Compound IIa has been synthesized by the following steps:(1) l-benzyl-6-methyl-2-pyridone (Ia) with ethyl oxalate to ethyl l-benzyl-2- ...
