A Novel, Facile and Selective Synthesis of Sulfoxides Catalyzed by CuFe2O4/PEO-SO3H as a Reusable Heterogeneous Nanocatalyst

In the present work, poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) coated sulfonated copper ferrite nanoparticles were successfully used as an efficient, green, easy-to-use, magnetic, reusable, bimetallic, environment-friendly, and heterogeneous solid acid catalyst in the selective oxidation of sulfides to corresponded sulfoxides. The complete selective oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides was performed using urea hydrogen peroxide (UHP) as an eco-friendly oxidizing agent in the presence of EtOH as a green solvent under mild and simple reaction conditions and low reaction times. All reactions were occurred with complete selectivity leading to sulfoxide synthesis and no over-oxidation products to sulfones in the reaction mixtures. The synthesised sulfoxides were characterized using techniques such as Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.