Abstract Investigations on the mild oxidation of alcoholic groups in lignins led to studies on the reactions of selected methoxy-phenols (guaiacol, creosol, 6-methylguaiacol, vanillin, o- vanillin, pyrogallol-1.3-dimethylether, 6-hydroxymethylcreosol) with dimethylsulfoxide-acetic anhydride mixtures. The results obtained resemble those reported by Burdon and Moffatt 5– 7 who investigated the reaction of alkylphenols with dimethylsulfoxide- ...