Recent Advances in DMSO-Based Direct Synthesis of Heterocycles

Besides serving as a low-toxicity, inexpensive and easily accessible solvent, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) has also been extensively used as a versatile reagent for the synthesis of functionalized molecules. Dimethyl sulfoxide can not only be utilized as a carbon source, a sulfur source and an oxygen source, but also be employed as a crucial oxidant enabling various transformations. The past decade has witnessed a large number of impressive achievements on the direct synthesis of heterocycles as well as modifications of heterocyclic compounds by applying DMSO as a reagent. This review summarized the DMSO-based direct heterocycle constructions from 2012 to 2022.