Cyclocondensation of α-Aminoacetonitrile with α-Oxodithioesters: A Modified Cook-Heilbron Synthesis of Thiazoles

In this letter, we present the reaction between α-oxodithioesters and α-aminoacetonitrile hydrochloride in the presence of anhydrous sodium acetate in ethanol for the synthesis of 2-acyl-5-aminothiazoles. A broad substrate scope has been demonstrated to show the generality of this reaction. The putative mechanism of formation of thiazoles is presented. Mild reaction conditions, short reaction conditions, broad substrate scope and use of green solvent like ethanol are the notable important features of this protocol. The work presented here is an important extended work of the Cook-Heilbron synthesis of thiazoles.