To a mixture of 2-chloromethyl-1-(3,5-dichlorobenzyl)-1H-imidazole hydrochloride (see Example 1) (150 mg, 0.5 mmol), 4-chloro-3-methoxyphenol (158 mg, 1 mmol) and DMSO (1 mL) was added K2CO3 (415 mg, 3 mmol). The reaction was stirred at ambient temperature for 8 h before diluting with water (10 mL). A solution of 1N HCl was added until the mixture was only slightly basic (pH 8) before extracting with EtOAc (30 mL). The EtOAc phase was washed with water (10 mL), dried (Na2SO4) and concentrated in vacuo. The residue was purified by column chromatography (silica gel, 1:2, hexanes/EtOAc) to afford the title compound (194 mg, 97%) as a white solid: ESI MS m/z 397 [C18H15Cl3N2O2+H]+.
