Butyllithium in hexanes (10 ml) was added slowly at −70° C. under N2 flow to a solution of 1-methylimidazole (1.31 g) in THF (30 ml). The mixture was stirred at −70° C. for 45 minutes. Chlorotriethylsilane (2.7 ml) was added. The mixture was allowed to warm to 15° C. and cooled to −70° C. Butyllithium (10 ml) was added slowly. The mixture was stirred at −70° C. for 1 hour, allowed to warm to −15° C. and cooled to −70° C. A solution of intermediate (6-b) (4.9 g) in THF (60 ml) was added. The mixture was stirred at −70° C. for 30 minutes, then hydrolyzed with water, extracted with ethyl acetate and decanted. The organic layer was dried, filtered and the solvent was evaporated. The residue (8.2 g) was purified by column chromatography over silica gel (eluent: CH2Cl2/CH3OH/NH4OH 96/4/0.2) and crystallized from 2-propanone/diethyl ether. The precipitate was filtered off and dried, yielding 1.5 g (25%) of (±)-3-(3-chlorophenyl)-α-(4-chlorophenyl)-α-(1-methyl-1H-imidazol-5-yl)-2,1-benzisoxazole-5-methanol (interm. 6-c).
