BMS has been employed for the reduction of many functional groups. Reductions of aldehydes, ketones, epoxides, esters, and carboxylic acids give the corresponding alcohols. Lactones are reduced to diols, and nitriles are reduced to amines. Acid chlorides and nitro groups are not reduced by BMS.
Borane dimethylsulfide is one of the most common bulk reducing agents used in the Corey–Itsuno reduction. The dimethylsulfide ligand attenuates the reactivity of the borane. Activation by the nitrogen of the chiral oxazaborolidine catalyst of the stoichiometric reducing agent allows for asymmetric control of the reagent. In general BMS does not lead to significantly greater enantiomeric selectivities than borane-THF, however its increased stability in the presence of moisture and oxygen makes it the reagent of choice for the reduction.