Abstract Treatment of the l-benzyl salts of pyrimidine, 4, 6-dimethylpyrimidine, and 4-t- butylpyrimidine with liquid ammonia leads to debenzylation. The 1 H-nmr spectroscopic evidence is presented that the initial step in the debenzylation of l-benzyl-4, 6- dimethylpyrimidinium bromide is the addition of the ammonia at C-2, while with l-benzyl-4-t- butylpyrimidinium bromide the addition takes place at C-6. It is proved by 15 N labelling ...
