A facile one-pot, metal-free method for the synthesis of 2-aminobenzothiazoles was developed, which includes an initial reaction of electron-deficient 2-haloanilines with aromatic isothiocyanates and the subsequent intramolecular cyclization of the resulting thioureas through the SNAr mechanism. This one-pot, atom-economical, robust, and scalable method avoids the use of reagents such as acid chlorides and Lawesson's reagent that are difficult to handle.
