: Dess–Martin periodinane (DMP), is a commercially available chemical, frequently being utilized as a mild oxidative agent for the selective oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols to their corresponding aldehydes and ketones, respectively. DMP shows several merits over other common oxidative agent such as chromium- and DMSO-based oxidants, thus it is habitually employed in the total synthesis of natural products. In this review, we try to underscore the applications of DMP as an effective oxidant in an appropriate step (steps) in the multistep total synthesis of natural products.