A new, facile, and efficient methodology for synthesizing b-hydroxy sulfides/selenides has been reported. In this study, 1,2-epoxide ring opening was used as the synthetic protocol, and this reaction was examined using metallic sodium with no additional catalyst. This lead to the synthesis of the desired ring-opened products. Relatively short reaction times, mild reaction conditions, a simple work-up, moderate to good yields of products, and remarkable regioselectivity of the nucleophilic attack were other important features of this study
