Eucaine, also known as β-eucaine or Betacaine, is a drug that was previously used as a local anesthetic.

[1] It was designed as an analog of cocaine and was one of the first synthetic chemical compounds to find general use as an anesthetic.

[3] During the war, a team including Jocelyn Field Thorpe and Martha Annie Whiteley developed a synthesis in Britain.

Condensation of diacetonamine [625-04-7] (1) with acetaldehyde (paraldehyde) rather than acetone gives the piperidone containing one less methyl group, i.e. 2,2,6-trimethylpiperidin-4-one [3311-23-7] (2).

Reduction of the ketone with sodium amalgam gives the alcohol as a mixture of isomers, 2,2,6-trimethylpiperidin-4-ol (3).