As is known, alkyl-, aryl-, and heterylamides of acylpyruvic (or 4-substituted 2-hydroxy-4-oxo-2-butenoic) acid exhibit a broad spectrum of pharmacological properties, including antimicrobial [2 -14], anticonvulsant [8,9,12,15,16], antiinflammatory [7, 10, 11, 17 -23], and analgesic [2, 3, 7 -20, 22, 23] activity at a low toxicity [3 -5, 7 -11, 15, 17 -21, 23]. It was reported [17] that the group of aroylpyruvic acid thiazolyl amides not containing substituents in the thiazole cycle also includes compounds possessing analgesic and antiinflammatory properties. According to our previous data, N-(1,3-thiazol-2-yl)amide of pivaloylpyruvic acid exhibits a moderate bacteriostatic effect [9] and pronounced analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties [3,23].In continuation of the search for new biologically active compounds among acylpyruvic acid thiazolyl amides, we have synthesized a series of 4-aryl-2-hydroxy-4-oxo-2-butenoic acid N-(1,3-thiazol-2-yl)amides (Ia -Iz) substituted at the thiazole ring and studied some pharmacological properties of the obtained compounds. Amides Ia -Iz were synthesized using a well-known method [9, 17, 24] based on the reactions of 5-arylfuran-2,3-diones (IIa -IIg) with 4-ethyl-, 4-aryl-, and 4,5-dimethyl-2-amino-1,3-thiazoles.Amides Ia -Iz appear as readily crystallizable substances of a light-yellow or yellow color, which are insoluble in water and hexane, sparingly soluble in ethanol, acetonitrile, ethyl acetate, dioxane, and benzene, and soluble in DMSO and DMF.For Ar, R 1 , and R 2 see Table 1.The proposed structures were confirmed by the results of spectroscopic measurements with reference to the known thiazolylamides of acylpyruvic acids [3,9,17]. The biological activity of the newly synthesized compounds Ia -Iz was compared to that of their structural analogs: benzoylpyruvic acid thiazolylamide (Ia¢) [17] and pivaloylpyruvic acid thiazolylamide (III) [3,9,23].The IR spectra of compounds Ia -Iz display intense absorption bands at n = 3312 -3180 cm -1 (assigned to the stretching vibrations of amide NH group), 1695 -1660 cm -1 (stretching vibrations of amide carbonyl groups), and a broad absorption band at 1620 -1595 cm -1 (characteristic of the carbonyl groups of b-dioxo fragments involved in the six-member chelate cycle). From this we infer that amides Ia -Iz in the solid state occur in the X-enol form, which does 665