Egon Spengler is not so much ashamed as "strongly" considers irrelevant, mainly because he sees science as relevant. Spengler's faith in science was also tested in one episode where the Ghostbusters get abducted to the ghost world by the ghost of Al Capone. Spengler's scientific equipment fails until he is told by former capos of Capone (who aid the Ghostbusters in revenge for Capone double-crossing them) that only magic can harm ghosts in the ghost world as opposed to science harming ghosts in the human world, thus forcing Spengler to accept the wizardry methods of his ancestors to defeat Capone. He is
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