diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_parser.ts b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_parser.ts
index 05d9fefe53..5c12047cf8 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_parser.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_parser.ts
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ class TreeBuilder {
     var tagDef = getHtmlTagDefinition(el.name);
     var parentEl = this._getParentElement();
     if (tagDef.requireExtraParent(isPresent(parentEl) ? parentEl.name : null)) {
-      var newParent = new HtmlElementAst(tagDef.requiredParent, [], [el], el.sourceSpan);
+      var newParent = new HtmlElementAst(tagDef.parentToAdd, [], [el], el.sourceSpan);
       this._addToParent(newParent);
       this.elementStack.push(newParent);
       this.elementStack.push(el);
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_tags.ts b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_tags.ts
index 07fc901a4d..2561e5e4cf 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_tags.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_tags.ts
@@ -66,30 +66,35 @@ export enum HtmlTagContentType {
 export class HtmlTagDefinition {
   private closedByChildren: {[key: string]: boolean} = {};
   public closedByParent: boolean = false;
-  public requiredParent: string;
+  public requiredParents: {[key: string]: boolean};
+  public parentToAdd: string;
   public implicitNamespacePrefix: string;
   public contentType: HtmlTagContentType;
 
-  constructor({closedByChildren, requiredParent, implicitNamespacePrefix, contentType,
+  constructor({closedByChildren, requiredParents, implicitNamespacePrefix, contentType,
                closedByParent}: {
-    closedByChildren?: string,
+    closedByChildren?: string[],
     closedByParent?: boolean,
-    requiredParent?: string,
+    requiredParents?: string[],
     implicitNamespacePrefix?: string,
     contentType?: HtmlTagContentType
   } = {}) {
     if (isPresent(closedByChildren) && closedByChildren.length > 0) {
-      closedByChildren.split(',').forEach(tagName => this.closedByChildren[tagName.trim()] = true);
+      closedByChildren.forEach(tagName => this.closedByChildren[tagName] = true);
     }
     this.closedByParent = normalizeBool(closedByParent);
-    this.requiredParent = requiredParent;
+    if (isPresent(requiredParents) && requiredParents.length > 0) {
+      this.requiredParents = {};
+      this.parentToAdd = requiredParents[0];
+      requiredParents.forEach(tagName => this.requiredParents[tagName] = true);
+    }
     this.implicitNamespacePrefix = implicitNamespacePrefix;
     this.contentType = isPresent(contentType) ? contentType : HtmlTagContentType.PARSABLE_DATA;
   }
 
   requireExtraParent(currentParent: string): boolean {
-    return isPresent(this.requiredParent) &&
-           (isBlank(currentParent) || this.requiredParent != currentParent.toLowerCase());
+    return isPresent(this.requiredParents) &&
+           (isBlank(currentParent) || this.requiredParents[currentParent.toLowerCase()] != true);
   }
 
   isClosedByChild(name: string): boolean {
@@ -101,37 +106,66 @@ export class HtmlTagDefinition {
 // see http://www.w3.org/TR/html51/syntax.html#optional-tags
 // This implementation does not fully conform to the HTML5 spec.
 var TAG_DEFINITIONS: {[key: string]: HtmlTagDefinition} = {
-  'link': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: '*', closedByParent: true}),
-  'ng-content': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: '*', closedByParent: true}),
-  'img': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: '*', closedByParent: true}),
-  'input': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: '*', closedByParent: true}),
-  'hr': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: '*', closedByParent: true}),
-  'br': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: '*', closedByParent: true}),
-  'wbr': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: '*', closedByParent: true}),
+  'link': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['*'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'ng-content': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['*'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'img': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['*'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'input': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['*'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'hr': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['*'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'br': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['*'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'wbr': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['*'], closedByParent: true}),
   'p': new HtmlTagDefinition({
-    closedByChildren:
-        'address,article,aside,blockquote,div,dl,fieldset,footer,form,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,header,hgroup,hr,main,nav,ol,p,pre,section,table,ul',
+    closedByChildren: [
+      'address',
+      'article',
+      'aside',
+      'blockquote',
+      'div',
+      'dl',
+      'fieldset',
+      'footer',
+      'form',
+      'h1',
+      'h2',
+      'h3',
+      'h4',
+      'h5',
+      'h6',
+      'header',
+      'hgroup',
+      'hr',
+      'main',
+      'nav',
+      'ol',
+      'p',
+      'pre',
+      'section',
+      'table',
+      'ul'
+    ],
     closedByParent: true
   }),
-  'thead': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: 'tbody,tfoot'}),
-  'tbody': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: 'tbody,tfoot', closedByParent: true}),
-  'tfoot': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: 'tbody', closedByParent: true}),
-  'tr': new HtmlTagDefinition(
-      {closedByChildren: 'tr', requiredParent: 'tbody', closedByParent: true}),
-  'td': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: 'td,th', closedByParent: true}),
-  'th': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: 'td,th', closedByParent: true}),
-  'col': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: 'col', requiredParent: 'colgroup'}),
+  'thead': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['tbody', 'tfoot']}),
+  'tbody': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['tbody', 'tfoot'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'tfoot': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['tbody'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'tr': new HtmlTagDefinition({
+    closedByChildren: ['tr'],
+    requiredParents: ['tbody', 'tfoot', 'thead'],
+    closedByParent: true
+  }),
+  'td': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['td', 'th'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'th': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['td', 'th'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'col': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['col'], requiredParents: ['colgroup']}),
   'svg': new HtmlTagDefinition({implicitNamespacePrefix: 'svg'}),
   'math': new HtmlTagDefinition({implicitNamespacePrefix: 'math'}),
-  'li': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: 'li', closedByParent: true}),
-  'dt': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: 'dt,dd'}),
-  'dd': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: 'dt,dd', closedByParent: true}),
-  'rb': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: 'rb,rt,rtc,rp', closedByParent: true}),
-  'rt': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: 'rb,rt,rtc,rp', closedByParent: true}),
-  'rtc': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: 'rb,rtc,rp', closedByParent: true}),
-  'rp': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: 'rb,rt,rtc,rp', closedByParent: true}),
-  'optgroup': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: 'optgroup', closedByParent: true}),
-  'option': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: 'option,optgroup', closedByParent: true}),
+  'li': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['li'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'dt': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['dt', 'dd']}),
+  'dd': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['dt', 'dd'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'rb': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['rb', 'rt', 'rtc', 'rp'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'rt': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['rb', 'rt', 'rtc', 'rp'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'rtc': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['rb', 'rtc', 'rp'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'rp': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['rb', 'rt', 'rtc', 'rp'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'optgroup': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['optgroup'], closedByParent: true}),
+  'option': new HtmlTagDefinition({closedByChildren: ['option', 'optgroup'], closedByParent: true}),
   'style': new HtmlTagDefinition({contentType: HtmlTagContentType.RAW_TEXT}),
   'script': new HtmlTagDefinition({contentType: HtmlTagContentType.RAW_TEXT}),
   'title': new HtmlTagDefinition({contentType: HtmlTagContentType.ESCAPABLE_RAW_TEXT}),
diff --git a/modules/angular2/test/compiler/html_parser_spec.ts b/modules/angular2/test/compiler/html_parser_spec.ts
index 9120a05ecf..bb105e52a0 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/test/compiler/html_parser_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/test/compiler/html_parser_spec.ts
@@ -97,11 +97,24 @@ export function main() {
         });
 
         it('should add the requiredParent', () => {
-          expect(humanizeDom(parser.parse('<table><tr></tr></table>', 'TestComp')))
+          expect(
+              humanizeDom(parser.parse(
+                  '<table><thead><tr head></tr></thead><tr noparent></tr><tbody><tr body></tr></tbody><tfoot><tr foot></tr></tfoot></table>',
+                  'TestComp')))
               .toEqual([
                 [HtmlElementAst, 'table', 0],
+                [HtmlElementAst, 'thead', 1],
+                [HtmlElementAst, 'tr', 2],
+                [HtmlAttrAst, 'head', ''],
                 [HtmlElementAst, 'tbody', 1],
                 [HtmlElementAst, 'tr', 2],
+                [HtmlAttrAst, 'noparent', ''],
+                [HtmlElementAst, 'tbody', 1],
+                [HtmlElementAst, 'tr', 2],
+                [HtmlAttrAst, 'body', ''],
+                [HtmlElementAst, 'tfoot', 1],
+                [HtmlElementAst, 'tr', 2],
+                [HtmlAttrAst, 'foot', '']
               ]);
         });