To a 100 mL round bottom flask was added 1-(3-Chloro-3′-methanesulfonylbiphenyl-4-yl)-2-(2-chlorobenzyl)-1H-imidazole-4-carboxylic acid, obtained in a manner similar to that described for 1-(4-Bromo-2-chloro-phenyl)-2-(2-chlorophenyl)-1H-imidazole-4-carboxylic acid in Example BB1 (350 mg, 707 μmol) and anhydrous CHCl3 (15 mL). The reaction solution was cooled to 0° C. prior to addition of oxalyl chloride (310 μL, 3.54 mmol) and 1 drop of anhydrous DMF. The reaction solution was allowed to stir warming to room temperature over 1.5 h. The solution was concentrated in vacuo and the residue was dissolved in anhydrous 1,4-dioxane (20 mL). To the reaction flask was added acetamide oxime (104 mg, 1.41 mmol) and K2CO3 (293 mg, 2.12 mmol). The mixture was stirred at room temperature for 1 hr prior to addition of xylene (43 mL) and raising the reaction temperature to reflux for 16 hrs. The reaction solution was diluted with EtOAc (100 mL) and washed with sat aq. NH4Cl (150 mL×2). The organic phase was dried over Na2SO4, filtered, concentrated in vacuo, and chromatographed through a 25 g SiO2 column using a 100% hexane to 100% EtOAc gradient to yield 115 mg (31% yield) of title compound. MS (ESI) 533.3, 535.3 [M+H]+; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6) δ 8.16 (s, 1H), 8.06 (s, 1H), 7.97 (d, J=7.6 Hz, 1H), 7.91 (d, J=7.6 Hz, 1H), 7.76 (t, J=7.6 Hz, 1H), 7.50 (d, J=8.4 Hz, 2H), 7.26 (dd, J=7.8 Hz, J2=1 Hz, 1H), 7.12 (d, J=8.4 Hz, 2H), 7.09 (m, 1H), 7.02 (dd, J=7.8 Hz, J2=1 Hz, 1H), 6.95 (t, J=8 Hz, 1H), 3.32 (s, 3H), 2.39 (s, 3H), 1.79 (s, 3H).
