Abstract: A new stable solid composition suitable for oral administration comprising a pharmaceutically acceptable acid addition salt of selegiline is achieved by reducing the destabilizing effect of the conventional lubricant present in such compositions, magnesium stearate either by replacing all or a substantial part of the magnesium stearate by other lubricants such as fatty acid esters and vegetable oils and/or by adding a pharmaceutically acceptable acid to the selegiline-containing tablets.

Abstract: The invention provides novel 1-substituted-5-hydroxymethyl-2-mercapto-imidazoles of the formula ##STR1## wherein R is pyridylmethyl, alkyl of 1 to 4 carbon atoms, or a radical of formula: ##STR2## in which R.sub.1 is hydrogen or halogen and n is 1-3. These compounds are prepared by reacting together dihydroxyacetone dimer, the amine R--NH.sub.2, and potassium thiocyanate. The compounds of formula (I) are useful as starting materials in the preparation of known therapeutically valuable imidazole derivatives, by removing the mercapto group, oxidizing the alcohol group to an aldehyde group and condensing the aldehyde with an appropriate phenyl or phenylalkyl magnesium halide.