Ultrasound-assisted Synthesis of Biologically Promising Organoselenium Scaffolds

Selenium metal acts as an essential nutrient in many selenoproteins. Various selenium- containing compounds are reported to possess a broad range of biological activities. In many commercially available drug molecules, selenium plays an important role. As a result, during the last two decades, organoselenium chemistry has expanded widely. A huge number of methods have been reported for the synthesis of structurally diverse organoselenium compounds under various reaction conditions. On the other hand, ultrasound-assisted protocols are found much more advantageous over traditional thermal methods in terms of reaction times, yields, product selectivity, purity of the products etc. In many occasions, it was found that ultrasound plays a pivotal role in achieving the desired products in high yields. In this review, we have summarized the recent literature on the ultrasound-assisted synthesis of various organoselenium scaffolds under diverse reaction conditions.