Sixteen 4-arylthiazol-2 (3H)-ones (3) were synthesised by cyclisation of α- thiocyanatoacetophenones (1) in acid solution. They appear to prefer greatly the oxo tautomeric forms. In CCl4 solution an equilibrium between the free CO bond and a “dimeric” hydrogen-bonded form exists in which the latter predominates. Several IR and NMR (1H, 13C and 15N) spectral properties are shown to correlate with Hammett σ-values and/or ...
