Close inspection of this reaction reveals that prior to product formation, a cyclic sulfilimine salt 3 is formed by loss of water. These salts are known materials, quite analogous to the acyclic variety alluded to earlier, and usually formed by an oxidative ring closure of an o- aminobenzyl methyl sulfide. 25 As with other sulfilimines, the presence of electron- withdrawing substituents renders them more stable, with the free base isolable in the case ...