Substrates that are insufficiently activated towards the hydrated imidazoline ring expansion (HIRE) process have been previously found to deliver exclusively the products of aminoalkyl side-chain ring expansion. Attempted reversal of the process by thermal activation towards HIRE failed. We have found that for such problematic substrates the HIRE-type ring expansion can be effectively achieved by applying lithium hexamethyldisilazide (LHMDS) in toluene. LHMDS is thought to promote intramolecular transamidation, which leads to ring-expanded 10- and 11-membered heterocyclic products in modest to good yields. The process significantly broadens the substrate scope amenable to the HIRE strategy.