4-Hydroxybenzaldehyde → 4-[(1-Trityl-4-imidazolyl)methoxy]benzaldehyde

1.22 g of p-hydroxybenzaldehyde and 4.08 g of 4-chloromethyl-1-tritylimidazole were dissolved in 40 ml of N,N-dimethylformamide, followed by adding 1.66 g of anhydrous potassium carbonate and subsequently stirring at room temperature for 40 hours. The thus prepared reaction solution were partitioned between water and benzene, and the resulting organic layer was concentrated to dryness. The resulting residue was purified by subjecting it to silica gel column chromatography using chloroform as an elution solvent, and the thus purified product was crystallized from a n-hexane/benzene solvent system. In this way, 2.3 g of the title compound was obtained.