Selective oxidation of sulfides with H2O2 catalyzed by silica–tungstate core–shell nanoparticles

Selective oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides with 30% hydrogen peroxide in shorter reaction times catalyzed by silica–tungstate (SiO2@WO42-) core–shell nanoparticles in water is reported. The synthesized catalyst was well characterized by TEM, XRD, XPS, UV–Vis, FT-IR, AFM and ICP–AES techniques. The formation of water as the only by-product and the reaction in water serves as an environmentally benign process. The catalyst can be recovered and reused for several cycles without loss of activity.