Abstract

Thiazoles have become increasingly important in pharmaceutical, biochemical and technical fields. Commercially important compounds that contain the thiazole ring are the mercaptothiazoles, which are valuable as rubber accelerators, and for penicillins and thiamin, for example. Certain thiazole derivatives show great promise as intermediates in the synthesis of amino acids. This chapter summarizes information on the methods of preparation of the thiazoles, but is restricted to those in which the thiazole ring is not part of a condensed system.