Abstract: | Readily accessible acylamino(chloro)acetophenones, if treated with sodium rhodanide and α‐halogenocarbonyl compounds, provide 4‐acylamino‐5‐aryl‐2‐mercapto‐1,3‐oxazole derivatives which undergo recyclization on heating in polyphosphoric acid to give substituted 1,3‐thiazol‐2(3H)‐ones or 1,3‐thiazolidin‐2,4‐diones containing 2‐alkyl(aryl)‐5‐aryl‐1,3‐oxazol‐4‐yl residues at the N3 atom. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 18:432–437, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/hc.20317 |