Catalytic oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides using sodium perborate and/or sodium percarbonate and silica sulfuric acid in the presence of KBr

Chemoselective catalytic oxidation of sulfides has been developed. A variety of aliphatic and aromatic sulfides are subjected to the sulfoxidation reaction by treatment of sodium perborate (SPB) and/or sodium percarbonate (SPC), silica sulfuric acid (SSA) and catalytic amounts of KBr in the presence of wet SiO2 (50% w/w) in dichloromethane at room temperature with moderate to good yields.