Selective Thiocyanation and Aromatic Amination To Achieve Organized Annulation of Enaminone with Thiocyanate.

A tandem insertion of thiocyanate to enamine was performed for the regioselective synthesis of multisubstituted benzoimidazo[2,1-b]thiazoles. This method was shown to be effective in addressing the issue of isomerization encountered in common strategies. With a change made to the leading group on the aniline fragment of enamine, the reaction achieved different transformations, thus enabling multisubstituted benzo[4,5]imidazo[2,1-b]thiazoles and thiazoles in satisfactory yields.