抄録
Heating of tetrahydroberberine (1) in ethyl chloroformate preferentially afforded the C8-N bond cleavage (4) with small amounts of the C6-N and C14-N bond cleavage products (5 and 6, respectively). The urethane (4) was effectively converted to (±)-canadaline (2), a secoberbine alkaloid, and a retroprotoberberine (3).