The methylation of ethyl 2-(hydroxyimino)-3-oxobutyrate (I) with dimethyl sulfate and Na2CO3 in methanol gives ethyl 2-(methoxyimino)-3-oxobutyrate (II), which is brominated with Br2 in CHCl3 yielding ethyl 4-bromo-2-(methoxyimino)-3-oxobutyrate (III). The cyclization of (III) with thiourea (IV) in refluxing ethanol affords ethyl 2-(2-aminothiazol-4-yl)-2-(methoxyimino)acetate (V), which is acylated with chloroacetyl chloride (VI) in DMA to give the corresponding N-chloroacetyl derivative (VII). The hydrolysis of (VII) with KOH in ethanol-water affords 2-(2-chloroacetamidothiazol-4-yl)-2-(methoxyimino)acetic acid (VIII), which is condensed with desacetoxycephalosporanic acid (IX) by means of N-hydroxysuccinimide (NOHS) and dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC) in THF yielding 7beta-[2-(2-chloroacetamidothiazol-4-yl)-2(Z)-(methoxyimino)acetamido]desacetoxycephalosporanic acid (X). The deprotection of (X) with sodium acetate in THF gives the free acid (XI), which is finally esterified with pivaloyloxymethyl bromide (XII) by means of NaHCO3 in ethyl acetate-DMSO.