Oxidative desulfurization of dibenzothiophene with molecular oxygen using emulsion catalysis

Dibenzothiophene ( DBT) is oxidized to the corresponding sulfoxide and sulfone in an emulsion system ( W/O) composed of polyoxometalate anion [ C18H37N( CH3)(3)](5)[ PV2Mo10O40] as both the surfactant and catalyst, using molecular oxygen as the oxidant and aldehyde as the sacrificial agent under mild conditions.