compounds of the instant invention can be isolated as free bases however since many of the compounds in base form are oils or gums it is more convenient to isolate and characterize the compounds as acid addition salts these salts are prepared in the usual manner i e by reaction of the base compound with a suitable inorganic or organic acid described above salts formed with dibasic acids e g oxalic acid may contain one or two molecules of base per molecule of acid all oxalates described herein contain one molecule of oxalic acid per molecule of imidazole base if desired the salts can be readily converted to the compounds in base form by treatment with alkali such as potassium carbonate sodium carbonate or sodium or potassium hydroxide the alcohols required as starting materials for preparation of the subject compounds of the instant invention are either available or can be obtained by known processes for example the alcohols required in sequences 1 3 can be prepared as follows str14 wherein r 1 is as previously defined x 39 is chloro or bromo and z is oxygen or sulfur in the above depicted sequence the 2 3 epoxypropyl thio ethers of formula 15 are prepared by reaction of a compound of formula 13 with an epihalohydrin such as epichlorohydrin or.