Girolline (RP 49532, 1), a new antitumour agent, was prepared in the racemic series using an oxidation-reduction sequence starting from (±)--β-chloro-γ-hydroxy- 1-triphenylmethyl-1H-4-imidazolepropanamine 3. The heterocyclic amino function was introduced via the coupling reaction of 9 with an aryldiazonium salt, followed by the reduction-deprotection of the 2-arylazo derivative 10.