In 50 ml of tetrahydrofuran was dissolved 5.0 g (11.5 mmol.) of imidazole (101e), followed by addition of 5 ml of water and 1.84 g (46 mmol) of sodium hydroxide, and then, 250 mg (0.8 mmol) of n-tetrabutylammonium bromide and 2.3 g (14 mmol) of 4-chloromethylpyridine hydrochloride were further added. The mixture was stirred under heating at 50° C. for 8 hours. After cooling, the reaction mixture was diluted with water and extracted with ethyl acetate. The extract was washed with water, dried over sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. The residue was purified by silica gel column chromatography (5% methanol-ethyl acetate) to provide 2-(3-benzyloxypropyl)-5-(3,5-dichlorophenylthio)-4-isopropyl-1-(pyridin-4-yl)methyl-1H-imidazole (136c) as oil. To thus-obtained oil (136c) was added 27 ml of concentrated hydrochloric acid and the mixture was heated at 110° C. for 2 hours. After cooling, the mixture was neutralized with sodium hydrogen carbonate and extracted with ethyl acetate. The extract was washed with water, dried over sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. The residue was purified by silica gel column chromatography (5% methanol-ethyl acetate) and recrystallized from ethyl acetate-n-hexane to provide 3.8 g (yield 76%) of 3-(5-(3,5-dichlorophenylthio)-4-isopropyl-1-(pyridin-4-ylmethyl)-1H-imidazol-2-yl)-propan-1-ol (137c) as crystals. mp 106-107° C.
