3-Hy-droxy-1-(4-meth-oxy-benz-yl)piperidin-2-one.

The title compound, C13H17NO3, adopts a conformation in which the aromatic ring and the mean plane of the piperidine ring are almost perpendicular to each other [dihedral angle = 79.25 (6)°]. The presence of the carbonyl group alters the conformation of the piperidine ring from a chair to a twisted half-chair conformation. In the crystal, pairs of strong O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol-ecules into inversion dimers. Weak C-H⋯O inter-actions extend the hydrogen-bonding network into three dimensions.