diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/template_parser.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/template_parser.ts
index 1da5dcedec..e02dab4f78 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/template_parser.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/template_parser.ts
@@ -439,9 +439,7 @@ class TemplateParseVisitor implements HtmlAstVisitor {
       templateBindingsSource = attr.value;
     } else if (attr.name.startsWith(TEMPLATE_ATTR_PREFIX)) {
       var key = attr.name.substring(TEMPLATE_ATTR_PREFIX.length);  // remove the star
-      templateBindingsSource = (attr.value.length == 0) ?
-                                   key :
-                                   key + ' ' + StringWrapper.replaceAll(attr.value, /:/g, ' ');
+      templateBindingsSource = (attr.value.length == 0) ? key : key + ' ' + attr.value;
     }
     if (isPresent(templateBindingsSource)) {
       var bindings = this._parseTemplateBindings(templateBindingsSource, attr.sourceSpan);
diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/test/template_parser_spec.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/test/template_parser_spec.ts
index db363148f1..3248d6c26d 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/test/template_parser_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/test/template_parser_spec.ts
@@ -508,7 +508,7 @@ export function main() {
         it('should support optional directive properties', () => {
           var dirA = CompileDirectiveMetadata.create({
             selector: 'div',
-            type: new CompileTypeMetadata({moduleUrl: someModuleUrl, name: 'Dir'}),
+            type: new CompileTypeMetadata({moduleUrl: someModuleUrl, name: 'DirA'}),
             inputs: ['a']
           });
           expect(humanizeTplAst(parse('<div></div>', [dirA])))
@@ -1067,18 +1067,6 @@ Reference "#a" is defined several times ("<div #a></div><div [ERROR ->]#a></div>
                 [ElementAst, 'div']
               ]);
         });
-
-        it('should work with *... and :', () => {
-          var dirA = CompileDirectiveMetadata.create(
-              {selector: '[a]', type: new CompileTypeMetadata({name: 'DirA'}), inputs: ['a', 'b']});
-          expect(humanizeTplAst(parse('<div *a="b: foo">', [dirA])))
-              .toEqual([
-                [EmbeddedTemplateAst],
-                [DirectiveAst, dirA],
-                [BoundDirectivePropertyAst, 'a', 'b'],
-                [ElementAst, 'div']
-              ]);
-        });
       });
     });