Crystal structure and Hirshfeld surface analysis of 3-(hydroxymethyl)-3-methyl-2,6-diphenylpiperidin-4-one

A new synthesis of the title compound, C19H21NO2, was developed with good yield and purity using the reaction of 4-hy­droxy-3-methyl-2-butanone, benzaldehyde and ammonium acetate in glacial acetic acid as a solvent. The central piperidine ring adopts a chair conformation, and its least-squares basal plane forms dihedral angles of 85.71 (11) and 77.27 (11)° with the terminal aromatic rings. In the crystal, the mol­ecules are linked by O-H⋯O and C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds into double ribbons. The Hirshfeld surface analysis shows that the most important contributions are from H⋯H (68%), C⋯H/H⋯C (19%) and O⋯H/H⋯O (12%) inter­actions