enantiomerically pure 1-(1-phenylethyl)-1H-imidazole 3-oxide 7 in high yield (Schemes 2 and 3). The reactions are carried out either in MeOH or in AcOH. Smooth transformations of the N-oxides into opticallyactive 1-(1-phenylethyl)-1H-imidazoles 10 and 2,3-dihydro-1-(1-phenylethyl)-1H-imidazole-2-thiones 11 are achieved by treatment of 7 with Raney-Ni and 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-3-thioxocyclobutanone (12),