Tertiary amine N-oxides, R~ RzR~ N+ O-, are readily reduced to the corresponding amines by numerous reagents., Although small amounts of deoxygenation product frequently accompany the better known Cope elimination3s5 and Meisenheimer rearrangement spontaneous deoxygenation has rarely been observed as a major pathway of thermal decomposition. Exceptions are Laughlin's finding of a 51% yield of tertiary amine when he ...
