A facile highlyregioselective process is described for the formation of 4-chloromethyl-1,3-oxazoles from 1,3-oxazole N-oxide/HCl salts. An explanation is presented for the high regioselectivity in deoxygenation-chlorination using POCl3 with HCl salts compared to the corresponding free N-oxides. The method is quite general and the products are isolated by direct precipitation in all cases studied.