Does imidazole and hydrochloric acid yield imidazole hydrochloride salt?

I'm asking this because I found a [link](http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/life-science/core-bioreagents/biological-buffers/learning-center/buffer-reference-center.html) for imidazole-HCl buffer: , but from what I understand, a buffer is a weak acid or base with its corresponding salt. Would imidazole-HCl buffer be a salt solution, or does it have a weak acid or base as well (if it does, what is the weak acid/base)? Also, I found two different pictures for imidazole hydrochloride:
[![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mdyV1.gif)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mdyV1.gif)
[![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/UbWfDm.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/UbWfDm.png)  

Which one is correct? Is imidazole-HCl a salt or a buffer?




[![Imidazole hydrochloride](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oR4IU.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oR4IU.png)


The correct structure of the salt is as shown above. This structure is more stable than the one that has two hydrogens on the same nitrogen - due to electron delocalization.


If you have a water solution of about 50/50 imidazole base and the hydrochloride salt, you get the maximum buffer capacity, due to the fact that both acid and base forms are present, and a small amount of a strong acid or base subsequently added to the mixture will react with these imidazole species, and therefore have little effect on the pH. 


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