Although N, N-disubstituted-2-aminothiazoles may be prepared in good yield by treating secondary 2-thiazolylamines with alkyl or aralkyl halides in the presence of lithium amide (1, 2), only a small amount of 2-benzylaminothiazole was isolated after interaction of 2-aminothiazole with benzyl chloride and lithium amide (1). This reaction was repeated with 2-acetamidothiazole in the expectation that N-benzyl-N-(2-thiazolyl)aeetamide (I; R = methyl) might be formed in better yield, thus offering a superior route, via hydrolytic cleavage of the acyl grouping, for the preparation of 2-benzylaminothiazole. Whereas treatment of the potassium derivative of 2-acetamido-4-methylthiazole with methyl iodide2 (3) and the sodium derivative of 2-formylaminopyridine with alkyl halides (4) have given only extranuclear N-alkylated compounds, our