And what it's used is to convert one type of group, what's called a carboxylic acid into another type of very reactive intermediate, which is called an acid chloride.

它被用来将一类被称作羧酸的化合物，转化成另外一类活性很高的反应中间体,也就是酰氯。

麻省理工公开课 - 化学原理课程节选

But in terms of drugs that don't look like maybe this compound was used in the synthesis, many of them might have used thionyl chloride, because it generates such a nice reactive intermediate that you can go on and make a bunch of different compounds from that intermediate.

但是对于药物来说,它们可能跟合成过程中用到的这种化合物并不相像，很多药物的制造过程中都会用到亚硫酰氯，因为它能产生活性如此之高的反应中间体,以至于你可以继续利用反应中间体,来制造一堆不同类型的化合物。

麻省理工公开课 - 化学原理课程节选