150 ml of a solution of 1.5 moles of butyllithium per liter of hexane were added over 20 minutes at 0° C. to a solution of 15.73 g of N-(2-thiazolyl)-acetamide in 550 ml of tetrahydrofuran and the mixture was stirred at 0° C. for 10 minutes and was cooled to -70° C. A solution of 14.4 g of the product of Step A in 165 ml of tetrahydrofuran was added at -70° C. over 15 minutes to the mixture which was then stirred at -70° C. for 30 minutes and poured into a mixture of ice and N hydrochloric acid. The mixture was extracted with ether and the combined organic phases were washed successively with hydrochloric acid and water, dried and evaporated to dryness under reduced pressure at 20° to 30° C. The residue was empasted with 250 ml of ether and was vacuum filtered. The product was washed with ether and dried under reduced pressure at 20° C. to obtain 15 g of 2-methoxyacetamido-β-oxo-N-(2-thiazolyl)-3-trifluoromethyl-benzene-propanamide melting at 152° C.
