Vanadium-catalyzed enantioselective sulfoxidation and concomitant, highly efficient kinetic resolution provide high enantioselectivity and acceptable yields of sulfoxides

Simple, inexpensive, preformed vanadium-Schiff base complexes were facilely prepared and used in enantioselective sulfoxidation. Both the amount of aqueous H2O2 and reaction time greatly influenced the ee values and yields of chiral sulfoxides. High enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee) and reasonable yields (> 40%) for various chiral sulfoxides were achieved by combining enantioselective sulfoxidation and appropriate concomitant kinetic resolution.