An Improved Method for Oxidation of Sulfides to Sulfoxides with Hydrogen Peroxide in Methanol

A variety of oxidative methods have been used for the preparation of sulfoxides from the corresponding sulfides². However, only few of them permit the oxidation in a selective manner. These methods involve for example sodium metaperiodate³, dichloroiodobenzene⁴ and t-butyl hypochlorite⁵ as oxidising agent. It should be noted that it is necessary to use them in equivalent amounts in respect to sulfide in order to avoid the over-oxidation or α-halogenation reaction.