Green Chemistry Blog

Chinese scientists report the selective oxidation of organic sulfides with oxone to give either sulfoxides or sulfones.

Sulfoxides and sulfones are important synthetic reagents widely used in the preparation of biologically active compounds.  However, their selective synthesis from sulfides is still a challenge, and although methods for achieving this are available they tend to still a require catalyst or promoter.

In this work, researchers led by Liang-Nian He from Nankai University, China, report a catalyst-free approach to the selective synthesis of sulfoxides and sulfones from sulfides using oxone.  The authors found that when the reaction was performed in water, the sulfone was formed almost exclusively; whereas when it was performed in ethanol the reaction gave the sulfoxide instead in excellent yields. 

This article is free to access until the 30th March 2012!  Click on the link below to find out more…

Catalyst-free approach for solvent-dependent selective oxidation of organic sulfides with oxone, Bing Yu, An-Hua Liu, Liang-Nian He, Bin Li, Zhen-Feng Diao and Yu-Nong Li, Green Chem., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2GC00027J

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