4, 5-Dicyanoimidazole has been reacted with racemic and enantiopure alcohols 7 (entries 1- 7 in Table 1) under Mitsunobu conditions to give l-alkyl-4, 5-dicyanoimidazole derivatives 8, which in turn have been transformed by hydrolysis and decarboxylation into 1- alkylimidazoles 10 in good overall yield and high enantiomeric excess. In contrast, when applied to benzyl and benzhydryl alcohols (entries 8-15), this sequence afforded the final ...
