Compounds of Series I were hydrolyzed in dilute sodium hydroxide to obtain the monosubstituted mercaptoacetic acids (Series 11) in virtually 100% yield. Neither unchanged starting material nor products of partial hydrolysis were recovered. This is in direct contrast to the behavior of geminal disubstituted derivatives which gave mixtures of mercapto acid, mercapto amide, thiazolidinedione and unreacted iminothiazolidinone. ...
