Sulforidazine (Imagotan, Psychoson, Inofal) a typical antipsychotic and a metabolite of thioridazine; it and mesoridazine are more potent than the parent compound, whose pharmacological effects are believed by some to be largely due to its metabolism into sulforidazine and mesoridazine.
Sulforidazine can be synthesized starting 2-bromo-2'-amino-4'-methylsulfonyl-diphenyl sulfide (1). Acetylation produces 2-bromo-2'-acetamino-4'-methylsulphonyl diphenylsulfide (2), which is then alkylated with 2-(2-chloroethyl)-1-methylpiperidine (3). Deacylation followed by a copper-catalyzed ring-formation reaction produces sulforidazine.