Selective, Metal-Free Oxidation of Sulfides to Sulfoxides Using 30% Hydrogen Peroxide Catalyzed with N-Bromosuccinimide (NBS) under Neutral Buffered Reaction Conditions

Various types of aromatic and aliphatic sulfides are selectively oxidized to the corresponding sulfoxides in good to excellent yields using 30% H2O2 in the presence of catalytic amounts of N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) in buffered aqueous acetonitrile solution (pH =7.00). The results showed that acid sensitive functional groups such as double bonds, and O,O-acetals remained intact under the described reaction conditions