Carbon Dioxide → (5-Chloro-2-ethyl-1h-imidazol-4-yl)methanol

11.5 Grams (15 mmol) of an aqueous solution containing 9.7% of sodium hypochlorite was dropwisely added to a solution consisting of 2.53 g (16.2 mmol) of the 2-ethyl-4,5-bis(hydroxymethyl) imidazole and 50 ml of water. After the dropwise addition has been finished, the mixture was stirred at room temperature for one hour, followed by neutralization by the addition of dry ice and further followed by evaporation to dryness under reduced pressure. The resulting solid was extracted with ethanol, the extract was evaporated under reduced pressure, and the resulting solid product was extracted with acetone. 1.48 Grams of the starting 2-ethyl-4,5-bis(hydroxymethyl) imidazole was recovered as an extraction residue, the extract was concentrated under reduced pressure, and was subjected to the column chromatography (silica gel-acetone) to obtain a 2-ethyl-4-chloro-5-(hydroxymethyl) imidazole in an amount of 0.46 g (yield 43.0% with respect to the starting material consumed). The TLC and spectra were measured to be the same as those of Example 3.