A range of biologically important substituted 3-methylidene-2,3-dihydro-4H-pyrimido[2,1-b][1,3]benzothiazol-4-ones and 3-methylidene-3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrimido[2,1-b][1,3]benzothiazol-2-ones was synthesized applying Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons methodology for the introduction of exo-methylidene bond onto a heterocyclic ring. Crucial in this approach, phosphonates were prepared by the reaction of ethyl 2-diethoxyphosphoryl-3-methoxyacrylate or ethyl 2-diethoxyphosphoryl-3-chloroacrylate with 2-aminobenzothiazoles, followed by addition of Grignard reagents to the obtained 3-diethoxyphosphoryl-4H-pyrimidobenzothiazol-4-ones or 3-diethoxyphosphoryl-2H-pyrimido[2,1-b][1,3]benzothiazol-2-ones, respectively. Surprising, ambident behavior of 2-aminobenzothiazoles towards ethyl 2-diethoxyphosphoryl-3-methoxyacrylate and ethyl 2-diethoxyphosphoryl-3-chloroacrylate is also discussed.