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

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.