Triphenylphosphine (1.05 g), 1-phenylpropyl alcohol (0.54 g) and THF (20 ml) were added to 2-hydroxy-α-(1-imidazolyl)benzaldehyde O-methyloxime (0.43 g), and diethyl azodicarboxylate (0.70 g) was added under ice-cooling over 10 minutes. Then the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 2 hours. After completion of the reaction, ether (100 ml) was added, the mixture was washed with water (80 ml) twice, and the ether layer was concentrated under reduced pressure. The resulting crude product was purified by silica gel chromatography to give α-(1-imidazolyl)-2-(1-phenylpropyloxy)benzaldehyde O-methyloxime (0.63 g) as a colorless oil.
