Novel Syntheses of 2-Butyl-5-chloro-3H-imidazole-4-carbaldehyde: A Key Intermediate for the Synthesis of the Angiotensin II Antagonist Losartan.

Reaction of glycine methyl ester (19) with imidate 18 under carefully optimized conditions allowed preparation of the rather unstable imidazolinone 11 in ca. 90% yield. Reaction of 11 with POCl(3)/DMF followed by aqueous workup gave aldehyde 2, a key intermediate for the synthesis of the angiotensin II antagonist Losartan, in ca.