This compound can be obtained by two related ways: 1) The Wittig condensation of 2-benzoylpyridine (I) with diethyl cyanomethylphosphonate (II) by means of sodium ethoxide in hot ethanol gives 3-phenyl-3-(2-pyridyl)acrylonitrite (III), which is reduced with NaBH4 in refluxing ethanol to yield 3-phenyl-3-(2-pyridyl)propionitrite (IV). Finally, this compound is cyclized with ethylenediamine (V) at reflux temperature. 2) The cyctization of 3-phenyl-3-(2-pyridyl)acrylonitrite (III) with ethylenediamine (V) at reflux temperature gives 2-[2-phenyl-2-(2-pyridyl)viny]-2-imidazoline (VI), which is then reduced with H2 over Pd/C in ethanol.