To a 100 mL round bottom flask (fitted with cooling bath, stir bar and nitrogen blanket) add 4-(3-Trifluoromethyl-phenyl)-1-(2-trimethylsilanyl-ethoxymethyl)-1H-imidazole (0.995 g; 1.00 equiv; 2.91 mmoles; 995.00 mg), n-Butyl Lithium (2.8 mL; 1.54 equiv; 4.48 mmoles; 2.80 mL; 1.90 g), and Tetrahydrofuran (30 mL; 368.66 mmoles; 30.00 mL; 26.58 g) and cool the mixture to −78° C. with stirring on and hold for 30 min. Add N-T-Butoxycarbonyl-4-piperidone (0.706 g; 1.22 equiv; 3.54 mmoles; 706.00 mg) and allow the reaction to warm to room temperature. Dilute the reaction with CH2Cl2, wash with water, dry over Na2SO4, filter, and concentrate to dryness. Purify the crude mixture by flash chromatography on silica eluting with ethyl acetate/hexane from 10-50% EtOAc. Combine the appropriate fractions and concentrate to give 4-Hydroxy-4-[4-(3-trifluoromethyl-phenyl)-1-(2-trimethylsilanyl-ethoxymethyl)-1H-imidazol-2-yl]piperidine-1-carboxylic acid tert-butyl ester (1.248 g; 0.79 equiv; 2.30 mmoles; 1.25 g; 79.29% yield).
