Catalytic Oxidation of Sulfides to Sulfoxides Using Aluminium Hydrogen Sulfate,Sodium Nitrite and Catalytic Amounts of Metal Bromide

A catalytic, chemoselective and environmentally friendly procedure for the oxidation of sulfides is described. A wide range of aliphatic or aromatic sulfides were successfully oxidized to the corresponding sulfoxides using NaNO2, Al(HSO4)3 and a catalytic amount of KBr or NaBr in the presence of wet SiO2 (50% w/w) in CH3CN under heterogeneous conditions in moderate to high yields