The sulfonamide nitrogen atom is typically considered a relatively weak nucleophile. Nevertheless, in certain scenarios its nucleophilicity can be enhanced towards commonly encountered reactive electrophiles, i.e. as carbonyl derivatives, nitriles, halides, etc., and could be used for the intramolecular transformations leading to sultams. The representative reaction sequence relied on the use of sulfonyl chloride 48,m in turn synthesized from the αchloronitrile 49 via a chlorosulfonylation reaction, accompanied by simultaneous hydrolysis of the nitrile to the amide. Upon treatment with an amine, the sulfonamide formed undergoes cyclization, resulting in the formation of sultam 50. Subsequent transformations include the alkaline hydrolysis of amide 50 to the corresponding carboxylic acid 51 (Table ). 71 hydrolysis was carried out under acidic conditions using H2SO4 instead of alkali; hydrolysis was carried out under acidic conditions using HCl instead of alkali