In this account we review the varied, but extensively documented reactions affording acyclic alkanesulfonates, alkanesulfonamides, and heterocyclic ring systems (sultones, 1,2‐oxathiole S,S‐dioxides, sultams, and 2,3‐dihydroisothiazole S,S‐dioxides) from conveniently functionalized alkanesulfonates or alkanesulfonamides, by a general procedure that we have named and classified as CSIC reactions both as intermolecular [Carbanion‐mediated Sulfonate (or Sulfonamide) Intermolecular Coupling] and as intramolecular [Carbanion‐mediated Sulfonate (or Sulfonamide) Intramolecular Cyclization] variants of the conversion. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2003)