The bis[4‐(hydroxyamino)phenylsulfonyl]piperazine 5, diketopiperazine 10 and benzene 14 were synthesised as mimics of an R22(8) motif, which occurs in one crystal polymorph of sulfathiazole and in several polymorphs of sulfapyridine. When present in crystallisations of sulfathiazole and sulfapyridine, these mimics were found to have little or no effect under crystallisation conditions that favour the formation of polymorphs not containing R22(8) motifs. However, the mimics were found to completely or partially inhibit the formation of form I sulfathiazole, which contains the R22(8) dimer, in crystallisations of sulfathiazole from 1‐propanol. In crystallisations of sulfapyridine, the mimics were found to promote the formation of form III, which does not contain the R22(8) motif. These compounds therefore appear to act as “tailor‐made” additives, displaying polymorph‐selective crystal nucleation inhibition based on interaction with hydrogen‐bond network motifs.