Lithium aluminum hydride (8.78 g) was suspended in dry THF (500 ml) under an argon atmosphere, and ethyl 3-hydroxy-3-(1-trityl-1H-imidazol-4-yl)propanoate (76 g)/dry THF (350 ml) solution was added at the same temperature with stirring under ice-cooling (ice-salt). The mixture was allowed to assume room temperature and stood with stirring for 2 h. The mixture was ice-cooled again and water/THF (1/6; 58.4 ml) was added to stop the reaction. An aqueous Rochelle salt solution (240 g/1.5 L) was added and the mixture was stood with stirring for 18 h. The organic layer was separated, washed with saturated brine and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. The solvent was evaporated and the residue was recrystallized from ethyl acetate-ether to give the title compound (58.8 g) as a colorless crystalline powder.
