Oxidation, catalyst in Sharpless dihydroxylations Osmium(VIII) oxide is used in the Sharpless oxyamination to give vicinal amino-alcohols. It is used to oxidize alkenes to the vicinal diols. It acts as a staining agent used in transmission electron microscopy to provide contrast to the image and as a stain for lipids in optical microscopy. As a polymer stain, it is also used to stain selectively copolymers especially styrene-butadiene block copolymers. Further, it is involved in the synthesis of Isosteviol.

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