The Wittig condensation of 1-tritylimidazole-4-carbaldehyde (I) with triphenyl(3-phenylpropyl)phosphonium bromide (II) and potassium tert-butoxide in THF gives 4-(4-phenyl-1(Z)-butenyl)-1-trityl-1H-imidazole (III), which is deprotected with 6N HCl in refluxing acetone.

The Wittig condensation of 1-tritylimidazole-4-carbaldehyde (I) with triphenyl(3-phenylpropyl)phosphonium bromide (II) and potassium tert-butoxide in THF gives 4-(4-phenyl-1(Z)-butenyl)-1-trityl-1H-imidazole (III), which is deprotected with 6N HCl in refluxing acetone yielding 4-(4-phenyl-1(Z)-butenyl)-1H-imidazole (IV). Finally, this compound is hydrogenated with H2 over Pd/C in methanol.