Mepivacaine of the amide type. Mepivacaine has a reasonably rapid onset (more rapid than that of procaine) and medium duration of action (shorter than that of procaine). Two primary methods of synthesis have been suggested. According to the first, mepivacaine is synthesized by reacting the ethyl ester of 1-methylpiperindine-2-carboxylic acid with 2,6-dimethylanilinomagnesium bromide, which is synthesized from 2,6-dimethylaniline and ethylmagnesium bromide. According to the second method, reacting 2,6-dimethylaniline with the acid chloride of pyridine- carboxylic acid first gives the 2,6-xylidide of α-picolinic acid. Then the aromatic pyridine ring is reduced to piperidine by hydrogen in the presence of a platinum on carbon catalyst. The resulting 2,6-xylidide α-pipecolic acid is methylated to mepivacaine using formaldehyde with simultaneous reduction by hydrogen in the presence of platinum on carbon catalyst.
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