A mixture of diisopropanolamine (1.13 g) in THF was stirred under nitrogen at −78° C. N-Butillithium (2.5 M in hexanes, 4.3 ml) was added portionwise at −70° C. and the mixture was stirred for 15 minutes. 1-(Diethoxymethyl)-1H-imidazole (1.81 g) dissolved in THF was added dropwise at −70° C. and the mixture was stirred at −70° C. for 1 hour. Compound 4 (5.54 g) dissolved in THF was added dropwise at −70° C. and the mixture was stirred at −70° C. for 1 hour. The mixture was brought till room temperature and it was stirred at room temperature overnight. Acetic acid (5 ml) was added and the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 20 minutes. K2CO3 (5 g) was added and the mixture was evaporated. The residue was taken up in water and DCM and the layers were separated. The aqueous layer was extracted with DCM. The combined organic layers were dried, filtered off and the solvent was evaporated, yielding 6.1 g (97%) of 6,11-dihydro-α-(1H-imidazol-2-yl)-11-[1-[2-[4-(2-quinolinylmethoxy)phenyl]ethyl]-4-piperidinylidene]-5H-imidazo[2,1-b][3]benzazepine-3-methanol (compound 46).
