Egon Spengler the city, after the digging of a new subway tunnel resulted in the release of an ancient ghost, Spengler was forced to recruit his only four current students to act as the new Ghostbusters. Although willing to do his share of the legwork, Spengler overestimates his abilities and his aging becomes apparent when he is no longer able to work at the same level as in his younger days, generally working at the firehouse doing research while the team handle the actual 'Ghostbusting', though when the situation calls for it he will help. Melnitz is still carrying a torch for
Pictet–Spengler reaction hydrochloric acid forming a tetrahydroisoquinoline. Like the Mannich reaction, aldehydes give good yields while ketones tend to give lower conversion. The Pictet–Spengler reaction has been applied to solid-phase combinatorial chemistry with great success. An analogous reaction with an aryl-β-ethanol is called Oxa-Pictet–Spengler reaction The reaction mechanism occurs by initial formation of an iminium ion (2) followed by electrophilic addition at the 3-position, in accordance with the expected nucleophilicity of indoles, to give the spirocycle 3. After migration of the best migrating group, deprotonation gives the product (5). Replacing an indole with a 3,4-dimethoxyphenyl group give the reaction named the Pictet–Spengler