acetone and 3 9 g of active nickel catalyst which had been rinsed once with acetone the vessel was closed purged with nitrogen and then pressurized to about 10 6 kg cm 2 with hydrogen the reaction mixture was then vigorously stirred while maintaining the temperature at 40 u00b0 c a rapid hydrogen uptake was observed after 80 minutes the uptake ceased and a sample was withdrawn and analyzed by gc which showed 5 2 furanyl 2 2 dimethyloxazolidine to be present in 75 area a 300 ml stainless steel autoclave which was configured to allow reactant to be fed in by means of a high pressure feed pump was charged with 120 ml of acetone and 3 9 g of active nickel catalyst which had been rinsed once with acetone the vessel was closed purged with nitrogen and then pressurized to about 10 6 kg cm 2 with hydrogen the vessel contents were vigorously agitated and 30 ml 27 6 grams of a 32 5 wt solution of u03b1 nitromethyl 2 furanmethanol in mtbe was slowly fed into the vessel at a rate of u02dc 1 ml minute the reaction temperature was maintained at 30 u00b0 c during addition hydrogen uptake was observed during addition after the addition was completed the reactor contents were stirred for an additional 90 minutes at 30 u00b0 c a sample was then withdrawn and analyzed by gc which showed 5 2 furanyl 2 2 dimethyloxazolidine to be present in 88 area confirmation was obtained via gc ms which showed the product peak to have mass charge m e 167 and a fragmentation pattern identical with authentic material it is well known that activated nickel catalysts in the presence of hydrogen will reduce ketones to alcohols in example 3 this reduction.