A solution of 1,3-dichloropropan-2-one (12.7 g) and thioacetamide (7.5 g) in dry ethanol (70 mL) was heated to reflux stirring under argon for 5.5 hours in a dry 1 liter reactor. At the end of the reaction the reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature and then concentrated under reduced pressure, the resulting dark crystalline residue was dissolved in water (250 mL) and solid NaHCO3 was slowly added to the above aqueous solution to give a pH 8 to the crude system, the mixture was then extracted with Et2O (4 x 100 mL) and the combined organic solutions were dried over anhydrous MgSO4. drying process. The desiccant was removed by filtration and the resulting filtrate was concentrated under vacuum, and finally the residue was purified by distillation under reduced pressure (0.05 Torr) to give the target molecule 4-(chloromethyl)-2-methyl-1,3-thiazole.
