Using stilbene (150 mL) as solvent, benzoylacetamide (10.15 mmol), ammonium acetate (64.86 mmol) and acetic acid (166.6 mmol) were added and the mixture was heated to reflux and azeotropized to remove the water, and the reaction lasted for 6 hours. Upon completion of the reaction, the reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature and washed with 25 mL of water followed by distillation to remove the solvent to give the crude product. The crude product was purified by column chromatography using silica gel (60-120 mesh) as stationary phase and a solvent mixture of dichloromethane and methanol (100:5, v/v) as mobile phase to give the final target compound 2-methyl-4-phenyl-1H-imidazole.