Recent Advances in the Use of Dimethyl Sulfoxide as a Synthon in Organic Chemistry

Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), as extremely important aprotic polar solvent and reaction medium, has attracted widespread attention from chemists in recent years due to its wide range of uses and the multiple functions it displays in various chemical processes. Especially in the past decade, dimethyl sulfoxide has become increasingly favored as a synthon in organic chemistry, resulting in great progress in this research field. In this context, this review provides a comprehensive summary of the literature on the recent progress in organic synthesis using dimethyl sulfoxide as a synthon, covering all the reports from 1 January 2016 to 11 May 2022. This type of reaction is mainly performed by transferring one or more units of dimethyl sulfoxide, such as oxygen (–O–, =O), methyl (–CH₃), methylene (–CH₂–), methylidene (=CH₂), methine (=CH–), donor of formylation (–CHO), sulfur (–S–), methylthio (–SMe), methyl sulfoxide (–SOMe), donor of methyl thiomethylation (–CH₂SMe), or donor of methyl sulfoxide methylation (–CH₂SOMe), to the target molecules. At the same time, we hope that this review will stimulate future studies and promote developments in this area.

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