Dimethyl sulfoxide

Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is a polar organic solvent. DMSO activated by various electrophiles (oxalyl chloride) has been used to oxidize various alcohols (primary, secondary, allylic, benzylic, hindered and bicyclic). Carbonyl compounds are formed as reaction products. Due to its higher stability, it has been proposed as an alternate solvent for methyl cellosolve for use in ninhydrin reaction