The treatment of certain genetic diseases, such as thalassemia major, requires chronic transfusion therapy, which produces secondary hemochromatosis as there is no physiological mechanism in humans for iron removal. Enterobactin, a microbial siderophore, is the most powerful iron(III) chelating agent known but is not suitable as a drug, while other 2,3-dihydroxybenzoylamides are good candidates. Sulfonation increases the acidity, resistance to air oxidation, and aqueous solubility of catechols, so we expected sulfonated catecholamide ligands to have superior chelating properties. We report the synthesis and preliminary evaluation of several sulfonated catechol chelating agents. The syntheses of compounds (e.g., 9, 13, 14, 18) involved protecting group strategies (methylation, sulfonation, deprotection). Proton-dependent metal ligand formation constants were determined spectrophotometrically via competition with EDTA, and pM values (=-log[Fe(H₂O)₆³⁺]) at pH 7.4 (1 μM total iron, 10 μM total ligand) were calculated. The pM values of all tricatecholamides exceed that of transferrin, indicating thermodynamic ability to remove iron from transferrin. Notably, compounds 9 and 14 are several hundred times more effective at sequestering ferric ion than desferrioxamine B, the current therapeutic agent. These new ligands combine exceptional iron affinity (higher than transferrin or desferrioxamine B), hydrolytic stability over a wide pH range, and greatly increased water solubility due to sulfonation, making them promising for iron overload treatment.