6 H, NCH, CH, SH HNO,+ this higher pH, nitroimidazole 1 is also consumed by direct hydrolysis, which accounts for the reduced yield of thioimidaz~ les.~~~ Assignment of structures 2 and 3 to the products is consistent with several observations. Reduction of both compounds in the presence of Raney nickel produced 2-methylimidazole-1-ethanol (4)'O.''and confirmed that the compounds were thioimidazoles. In addition, their'H NMR ...