A solution of (8-methylquinolin-7-yl)(1-trityl-1H-imidazol-4-yl)methanone (Intermediate M4) (3.59 g, 7.49 mmol) in THF (100 mL) at 0° C. was treated with MeMgBr (5.0 mL, 3M in ether) for 16 h. The reaction mixture was quenched with NH4Cl (aq) and extracted with EtOAc. The layers were separated and dried over MgSO4, filtered, evaporated and purified by column chromatography on silica gel with 3 to 4% NH3-MeOH. The alcohol in CH2Cl2 (100 mL) was treated with Et3N (8.4 mL, 60.3 mmol) and methane sulfonyl chloride (1.75 mL, 22.6 mmol) at 0° C. for 3 h. The mixture was quenched with water and extracted with CH2Cl2. The organic layers were pooled and evaporated to give 8-methyl-7-[1-(1-trityl-1H-imidazol-4-yl)vinyl]quinoline (Intermediate M5) 2.14 g (60% over two steps). This material was used in the next step without further purification.
