Modified o-methyl-substituted IBX: room temperature oxidation of alcohols and sulfides in common organic solvents

o-Methyl-substituted Me-IBX is the first modified analog of IBX that oxidizes alcohols in common organic solvents at room temperature, due to a composite of two factors, that is, low solubility and hypervalent twisting-promoted rate enhancement. Furthermore, the reagent is efficient for selective oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides, a transformation that otherwise occurs only sluggishly with standard IBX The facile synthetic accessibility and its mild as well as non-hazardous nature render Me-IBX a stable equivalent of Dess-Martin periodinane reagent in organic oxidations. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.