Quinine, quinidine, their antipodes or racemates and derivatives thereof, are prepared by (a) cyclizing the correspondingly substituted 4-(3-(1-chloro-3(R)-alkyl(or alkenyl)-4(R)piperidyl)-1-oxopropyl)quinolines, antipodes or racemates thereof, to the corresponding 4-(5(R)-alkyl(or alkenyl)-4(S)quinuclidin-2(S) or 2(R)-ylcarbonyl)quinolines, antipodes or racemates thereof; and (b) stereoselectively reducing the products of step (a) to Alpha (S)-(5(R)-alkyl(or alkenyl)-4(S)quinuclidin-2(R)-yl)-4-quinolinemethanols, antipodes or racemates thereof, and Alpha (R)-(5(R)-alkyl(or alkenyl)-4(S)-quinuclidin2(S)-yl)-4-quinolinemethanols, antipodes or racemates thereof. Various intermediates and the end products are useful antimalarial and antiarrhythmic agents.