Novel diketene imine derivative and process for preparing same

The invention relates to the novel compound of formula (I), chemically 1-{2-[(5-N,N-dimethylaminomethyl-2-furyl)-methylthio]ethyl}-2-{2-[(5-N ,N-dimethylaminomethyl-2-furyl)-methylthio]-1-ethylamino} -3-nitro-4-nitromethylene-2-azetine, which is a useful key intermediate in the synthesis of 1-{2-[(5-dimethylaminomethyl-2-furyl)methylthio]ethyl}-amino-1-methyla mino-2-nitroethylene (generic name: ranitidine), a known H-2 receptor antagonist. The invention further relates to a process for the preparation of the compound of formula (I), which can be carried out in one simple process step on industrial scale, too. The compound of formula (I) can easily be transformed to ranitidine in one simple step.