Practical oxidation of sulfides to sulfones by H(2)O(2) catalysed by titanium catalyst

The oxidation of thianisole and other substituted arylalkyl and diaryl sulfides with aqueous H(2)O(2) as the oxidant and heterogeneous TiO(2) catalyst exhibits a high selectivity affording the corresponding sulfones with 80-98% isolated yields. It should be noted that H(2)O(2) provided better results as compared with 'BuOOH 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.