Dimethyl sulfoxide was first synthesized by Alexander Saytzeff (1)
more than one hundred years ago by oxidation of dimethyl sulfide (DMS)
with nitric acid. Solid DMSO . HN03, written as
was isolated, analyzed for C, H, S, and N, then treated with a carbonate to
liberate DMSO which was analyzed in turn. During most of the century
since its discovery DMSO was of interest to chemists mainly as the first
member of the homologous series of sulfoxides and its oxidation-reduction
reactions, bond energies, entropies, and enthalpies of fusion and
formation, dipole moment, parachor, infrared, ultraviolet, and visible
spectra were studied. In the late 1950's interest grew slowly in DMSO as a
reagent, ligand, solvent, and biologically useful compound. By 1960 the
number of publications on inorganic and organic applications of DMSO
increased very sharply, partly as a result of commercial availability of the
solvent. In 1964 Jacob, Bischel, and Herschler (2) reported on a number of
promising medical uses of DMSO in addition to its proven use in lowtemperature
preservations of living tissues and organisms; these were :
(I) penetrant carrier, (2) local analgesic agent, (3) anti-inflammatory
adjunct, (4) bacteriostatic agent, (5) diuretic, (6) tranquilizer, and (7)
potentiator of other drugs or compounds used in medical treatments. At
this point the number of publications involving DMSO reached near-flood
proportions. Of approximately 1500 papers utilizing DMSO in some way
between 1867 and the end of 1967, the majority are post 1964. In this
chapter literature of interest to inorganic chemists will be reviewed
comprehensively.