Alkyl-1,4-benzoquinones (ABQs) such as 2,3-, 2,5-and 2,6-dimethyl-and 2,6-di-tert-butyl-1,4-benzoquinones are versatile building blocks and also have many others applications known for this type of compounds. Nowadays the requirements of environmental safety necessitate revising preparation processes of such compounds and searching for alternative synthesis ways. Until recently, there have been many efforts to develop sustainable green processes. However, the efficiency of proposed methods differs significantly. For this reason, in this review we would like to outline a variety of chemical properties of ABQs in order to show their great potential as chemical precursors, to describe some interesting applications of ABQs and then to give description of existing ABQ synthesis procedures developed in the last few decades. The review summarizes advances in liquid-phase selective oxidation of alkylphenols with molecular oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, and t-butyl hydroperoxide by using both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts. Consideration of old methods for ABQ synthesis is of interest for understanding the evolution of preferences in the field and for comparing the efficiency of methods.Benzoquinones are a versatile class of compounds possessing several sites of potential reactivity, viz. C = C and C = O. Owing to this feature, they may enter into various reactions such as amination, acylation, alkylation and arylation as well as cycloaddition, changing and modifying their structures. [3] Let us give some examples below.Nair et al. demonstrated that zwitterionic species generated by adding cyclohexyl isocyanide [4] or isoquinoline [5] to dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate can react with C = O bond of quinones, giving iminolactones [Reaction (1)] and derivatives of isoquinoline [Reaction (2)].