Selective oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides by a molybdate-based catalyst using 30% hydrogen peroxide

•An efficient magnetic catalyst is synthesized.•The catalyst recovery is carried out by applying an external magnet device.•Various aromatic and aliphatic sulfides are selectively oxidized to sulfoxides.

An efficient method is reported for selective oxidation of various types of sulfides to sulfoxides and sulfones in good to high yields using 30% H2O2 in the presence of catalytic amounts of molybdate-based catalyst in acetonitrile as solvent at room temperature. The catalyst can be easily recovered and reused for seven reaction cycles without considerable loss of activity.

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