This is a clear liquid. It helps mix things together. It can even go through your skin. It helps keep cells safe when they are frozen.
It is very useful. Do you like to mix things?
This is a clear liquid. It is a very good mixer. It can mix many different things together. It can even mix with water.
It can go through your skin. It can carry other things into your body. This helps medicine work.
It helps keep tiny cells safe. It stops ice from forming when cells freeze. This keeps the cells from dying.
This liquid can taste like garlic. This happens after it is soaked into your skin.
It is used in many ways. It helps make computer parts. It is a very useful tool.
Dimethyl sulfoxide, or DMSO, is a clear liquid. It is a very helpful solvent. A solvent is a liquid that can dissolve other things. DMSO is special because it can mix with many different substances. It can even mix well with water.
Scientists use DMSO in many ways. It helps make parts for computer screens. It is also used in biology. In a process called PCR, it helps study DNA. It can stop DNA from sticking to itself. This makes the study easier.
DMSO is also used to protect tiny cells. When cells are frozen, ice can form. This ice can kill the cells. DMSO acts as a cryoprotectant. This is a substance that stops ice from forming. This helps keep cells alive during freezing.
In medicine, DMSO can go through your skin. It can carry other medicines into your body. This helps those medicines work better. However, it can cause a garlic taste in your mouth. This happens after your skin absorbs it.
Distilling the liquid is hard. It has a high boiling point. To make it boil at a lower heat, scientists use a partial vacuum.
Dimethyl sulfoxide, often called DMSO, is a clear liquid that scientists find very useful. It is a special kind of solvent, which is a liquid used to dissolve other substances. Most solvents can only dissolve certain things, but DMSO is unique. It can dissolve both polar and nonpolar compounds. It also mixes well with water and many other organic solvents. This makes it a very important tool in many different types of science.
There are many ways that DMSO works in a lab. In biology, it is used in a process called PCR to help study DNA. It works by stopping the DNA from sticking to itself, which makes the study easier. It is also used as a cryoprotectant. This is a substance that helps protect tiny cells when they are frozen. Without it, up to 90% of frozen cells might become inactive. It prevents ice from forming and killing the cells during the freezing process.
People have been studying this liquid for a long time. A Russian scientist named Alexander Zaytsev first synthesized DMSO in 1866. He shared what he found with the world in 1867. Later, it became common in industry thanks to Thor Smedslund at the Stepan Chemical Company. In the 1960s, a team at Oregon Health & Science University led by Stanley Jacob discovered something new. They found that DMSO can pass through skin and membranes without causing damage.
DMSO has many specific facts and numbers attached to it. It has a high boiling point, which means it evaporates slowly. To boil it at a lower temperature, scientists must use a partial vacuum.
In medicine, the FDA has approved it to help with symptoms of interstitial cystitis. One approved medicine, PENNSAID, contains 45.5% DMSO to help medicine soak through the skin. If the liquid is absorbed through your skin, it can leave a garlic-like taste in your mouth. This happens because your body turns the liquid into other compounds.
You might see the effects of DMSO in modern technology or medicine. It is used to make parts for flat panel computer and TV screens. It is even used in the manufacturing of microelectronic devices. When doctors freeze stem cells for long-term storage, they often use a mixture containing 10% DMSO. This helps keep the cells safe and healthy. It is a small liquid that plays a huge role in many big scientific jobs.
Dimethyl sulfoxide, commonly known as DMSO, is a colorless liquid that serves as a vital organosulfur compound in science. It is classified as a polar aprotic solvent, which means it possesses a dipole moment but lacks an oxidizable hydrogen atom bonded to an electronegative element. This unique chemical property allows DMSO to dissolve both polar and nonpolar compounds. It is also miscible, or easily mixable, with water and a wide variety of organic solvents. Because it can dissolve so many different substances, it is a fundamental tool in chemistry, biology, and medicine.
At the molecular level, DMSO has a specific structure known as trigonal pyramidal geometry. The sulfur atom sits at the center and is approximately tetrahedral, meaning it is bonded to three groups while holding a nonbonded electron pair. This arrangement gives the molecule idealized Cs symmetry. In chemical reactions, the sulfur center acts as a nucleophile toward soft electrophiles, while the oxygen atom acts as a nucleophile toward hard electrophiles. These specific interactions allow scientists to use DMSO to build complex molecules through various chemical pathways.
DMSO can function in several distinct chemical roles depending on the environment. It acts as a mild oxidant in organic synthesis, forming the basis for specialized reactions like the Swern, Pfitzner–Moffatt, and Corey–Kim oxidations. In these processes, DMSO helps create intermediate sulfonium species. Additionally, it serves as a common ligand in coordination chemistry. A ligand is a molecule that binds to a central metal atom. For example, in the complex dichlorotetrakis(dimethyl sulfoxide)ruthenium(II), three DMSO ligands bond to the ruthenium through sulfur, while a fourth bonds through oxygen.
The history of DMSO began in the mid-19th century. The Russian scientist Alexander Zaytsev first synthesized the compound in 1866 and reported his findings a year later. While it was known in labs, its modern industrial use grew through the work of Thor Smedslund at the Stepan Chemical Company. Industrially, DMSO is produced from dimethyl sulfide, which is a by-product of the kraft process. This is achieved through oxidation using either oxygen or nitrogen dioxide. This transition from a laboratory curiosity to an industrial staple changed how many chemical processes are managed today.
In biological and medical settings, DMSO is highly significant due to its ability to penetrate membranes. In 1963, a team at Oregon Health & Science University led by Stanley Jacob discovered that DMSO could pass through skin and biological membranes without causing damage. This makes it an excellent vehicle to carry other drugs into the body. For instance, the FDA-approved medication PENNSAID uses a 45.5% DMSO vehicle to help the drug diclofenac penetrate the skin. However, users should note that absorbing DMSO through the skin can lead to a garlic-like taste in the mouth as the body metabolizes it.
DMSO also plays a critical role in cryobiology, the study of freezing organisms. It acts as a cryoprotectant, which is a substance used to protect cells from damage during freezing. Without a cryoprotectant, up to 90% of frozen cells can become inactive. When storing embryonic or hematopoietic stem cells, scientists often use a mixture containing 10% DMSO. This helps prevent the formation of ice crystals that would otherwise kill the cells. In the field of genetics, DMSO is also used in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to prevent DNA from forming interfering secondary structures.
Despite its many uses, DMSO has specific limitations and risks. It has a high boiling point, which means it evaporates very slowly at normal atmospheric pressure. To remove it during distillation, scientists must use a partial vacuum
. In medical research, high concentrations of DMSO can sometimes inhibit or kill cells, while very low concentrations might stimulate growth. Furthermore, while it is popular in alternative medicine, there is insufficient evidence to support its use as a cancer treatment. In fact, DMSO can interfere with certain chemotherapy drugs like cisplatin and oxaliplatin, making its use in those contexts a matter of great caution.
Where will your curiosity go next?
🖼️ Images & Media (1)
More to explore
✨ What else?
Related topics you might enjoy
🔬 Go deeper
More advanced topics to explore
🪜 Step back
Simpler topics to build understanding
What is Nepedia?
A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.