New Dimensions in Rongalite Chemistry: The Land of Opportunities in Organic Synthesis and Material Sciences

Rongalite, first time reported in the chemical structure in 1905, also known as bruggolite or sodium formaldehyde sulfoxylate, having good solubility and stability in organic media, is not only a cheap and commercially available (in kg amount) reagent with a range of industrial applications for instance emulsion polymerization, an excellent decolouring agent, antioxidant in pharmaceutical development, and an antidote for heavy metals, but also used as an effective regents in a plethora of organic reactions particularly in redox reactions as a powerful reducing agent. More interestingly, in recent years, it has also shown its impact in material sciences for the preparation of CdTe, CoTe2, and Ag2Se thin films, nanowire networks, hollow nanospheres, copper nanoparticles (Cu-Nps), CdTe-quantum dots and so forth. Keeping in mind the importance of this vital reagent in both organic chemistry as well as in material sciences, herein I intended to report the recent developments along with a brief overview of old literature wherever necessary to showcase the utility of this valuable reagent. This particular review article not only covers the applications of this environmentaly benign reagent in organic synthesis but also its usefulness in material sciences in particular nanosciences has been exposed for the first time.