General procedure for the synthesis of 1-methyl-1H-imidazole-4-carboxylic acid from 1-methyl-1H-imidazole-4-carboxylic acid: to a solution of 1-methyl-1H-imidazole-4-carboxylic acid (1 g, 7.94 mmol) in dichloromethane (DCM, 10 mL) was added oxalyl chloride ((COCl)2, 2 g, 15.9 mmol) and N,N-dimethylformamide ( DMF, 2 drops). After stirring the reaction mixture for 5 h at room temperature, the solvent was removed by rotary evaporator. The residue was dissolved in a methanol solution of 7N ammonia (10 mL). After stirring overnight at room temperature, the solvent was again removed by rotary evaporator. The residue was purified by fast column chromatography (acetonitrile/water, 5% to 60% gradient elution) to afford 1-methyl-1H-imidazole-4-carboxamide (480 mg, 48% yield) as a white solid.1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): δ = 7.62 (d, J = 11.6 Hz, 2H), 7.24 (s, 1H), 7.03 (s , 1H), 3.68 (s, 3H).
