product can be also crystallized from the crude material from diethyl ether 1 h nmr cdcl 3 300 mhz u03b4 ppm 7 97 d 1h 7 96 s 1h 7 83 s 1h 7 42 d 1h 7 00 s 1h 4 00 s 3h 2 31 s 3h 1 2 methoxy 4 nitro phenyl 4 methyl 1h imidazole 2 52 g 10 8 mmol dissolved in ethanol 110 ml was stirred under an atmosphere of hydrogen at 20 u00b0 c for 3 5 h in the presence of 10 palladium on charcoal 0 25 g the catalyst was filtered off and washed with ethanol the solvent of the filtrate was evaporated under reduced pressure the crude product was purified on silica gel using dichloromethane methanol 19 1 v v as eluent the fraction containing the product was suspended in diethyl ether stirred for 15 min filtered and dried to yield the title compound 1 72 g 78 as a yellow solid 1 h nmr cdcl 3 300 mhz u03b4 ppm 7 48 s 1h 6 91 d 1h 6 88 s 1h 6 35 s 1h 6 17 d 1h 3 68 s 3h 2 11 s 3h palladium.