A mild and chemoselective method for the thioacylation of amines using -ketoacids and elemental sulfur has been developed. The key to success for this transformation is the nucleophilic activation of elemental sulfur by thiols such as 1-dodecanethiol. A variety of functional groups, including unprotected hydroxyl, carboxyl, amide, sulfide, and tertiary amine moieties are tolerated under the applied reaction conditions. To demonstrate the advantages of this method compared to conventional O-S exchange reactions using Lawesson's reagent or P2S5, thioamide moieties were introduced sitespecifically into biologically active compounds.