Syntheses of 2-hydroperoxy-and 2-hydroxy-2H-imidazoles

Oxidation of fully substituted imidazoles 1 by singlet oxygen gives in good yield fully substituted 2-hydroperoxy-2H-imidazoles 2 . Reduction of 2 by triphenylphosphine leads to 2-hydroxy-2H-irnidazoles 3 . Limitations of the methods are reported.