Practical oxidation of sulfides to sulfones by H2O2 catalysed by titanium catalyst

Abstract

The oxidation of thianisole and other substituted arylalkyl and diaryl sulfides with aqueous H₂O₂ as the oxidant and heterogeneous TiO₂ catalyst exhibits a high selectivity affording the corresponding sulfones with 80–98% isolated yields. It should be noted that H₂O₂ provided better results as compared with ^tBuOOH in terms of the reaction rate and yields of sulfones. The use of hydrogen peroxide and heterogeneous nanocrystalline titania catalyst is a green alternative to the traditional stoichiometric oxidation providing high yields of sulfones in one step.