Cu(II)-catalyzed oxidation of sulfides

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/j.tetlet.2010.09.081

A variety of sulfides and disulfides were converted into the corresponding sulfoxide derivatives with 70% t-BuOOH (water) as the oxidant in the presence of catalytic quantity of CuBr₂. The method described does not involve cumbersome work-up, has wide range of applicabilities, exhibits chemoselectivity, and proceeds under mild reaction conditions, and the resulting products are obtained in good yields within reasonable time.

Full text of DOI:10.1016/j.tetlet.2010.09.081

Tetrahedron Letters 51 (2010) 6255–6258
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Tetrahedron Letters
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Cu(II)-catalyzed oxidation of sulfides
⇑
Rima Das, Debashis Chakraborty
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600 036, Tamil Nadu, India
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
A variety of sulfides and disulfides were converted into the corresponding sulfoxide derivatives with 70%
t-BuOOH (water) as the oxidant in the presence of catalytic quantity of CuBr2. The method described does
not involve cumbersome work-up, has wide range of applicabilities, exhibits chemoselectivity, and pro-
ceeds under mild reaction conditions, and the resulting products are obtained in good yields within rea-
sonable time.
Received 3 August 2010
Revised 14 September 2010
Accepted 18 September 2010
Available online 14 October 2010
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Oxidation
Sulfide
Sulfoxide
CuBr2
t-BuOOH
Catalytic oxidation processes play a key role in the manufacture
of bulk and fine chemicals.1 Sulfides may be considered as impor-
tant intermediates in organic chemistry owing to their versatile
usage in fundamental research;2 especially the chiral sulfoxides
serve as important intermediates in the synthesis of biologically
and medicinally important compounds.3 They are also employed
in the large scale separation of radioactive and less-common met-
als.4 They often play an important role as antiulcer,5 antiathero-
sclerotic,6 antihelmintic,7 antihypertensive,8 and cardiotonic
agents,9 as well as psycotonics10 and vasodilators.11 The most pop-
ular and widely used method for the preparation of sulfoxides is
the oxidation of the corresponding sulfides. Literature cites several
important methods for this transformation.12 The use of traditional
oxidants such as trifluoroperacetic acid,13 HNO3/H2SO4 solution in
nitromethane,14 iodic acid,15 and other hypervalent iodides16 are
well established for such transformation. However, most of these
reagents show unsatisfactory performance in medium- to large-
scale because of low and effective oxygen content and have to be
used in larger amounts. In addition, these methods bear high cost
and often lead to the generation of environmentally unfavorable
byproducts.
cess along with H2O2 in the presence of ionic liquids as solvent.22
However, the high cost and the viscosity associated with ionic liq-
uids hampered the commercialization of this process. Recently,
self-catalyzed sulfoxidation reaction at high temperature (i.e.,
70 °C) with H2O2 has been reported.23 It is highly desirable to find
simple, less expensive, safe, and high efficiency sulfoxidation
methods that will selectively oxidize sulfides to sulfoxides but
not sulfones. Our recent success in oxidation reactions with envi-
ronmentally benign salts further inspired us to examine the capa-
bility of Cu(II) for the conversion of sulfides into sulfoxides/
sulfones, in the presence of a suitable oxidant.24 The preference
of Cu(II) is obvious because of its stability under ambient condi-
tions, inexpensive nature, and ease of availability.
Initial attempts to optimize the reaction conditions for the oxi-
dation of sulfides were performed with methyl phenyl sulfide as a
suitable substrate in the presence of different solvents, oxidants
and 5 mol % of different Cu(II) salts (Table 1). The conversion of
methyl phenyl sulfide into methylsulfinylbenzene is extremely fac-
ile in the presence of 5 mol % CuBr2 and 5 equiv 70% t-BuOOH
(water) as the oxidant in MeCN under reflux condition. This con-
version is almost negligible (<10%) in the absence of CuBr2. Lower
stoichiometric amounts of t-BuOOH (water) resulted in lower iso-
lated yield of product. The reaction took 1.5 h for completion with
5 mol % CuBr2 and 5 equiv 5 M t-BuOOH (decane) with 85% isolated
yield of the product under these conditions. With 30% H2O2 as the
oxidant, the reaction yielded 60% of the product after 24 h. Among
the different solvents used in this study (Table 1, entries 1–7),
MeCN yielded best results. The other Cu(II) salts (Table 1, entries
8–12) were not as good with respect to CuBr2. It is pertinent to
highlight herein that the mass spectra of the crude product did
not reveal the presence of sulfone during this entire optimization,
Some interesting transition-metal catalyzed transformations
have been reported which include the use of vanadium,17 rhe-
nium,18 iron,19 manganese,20 and titanium21 for the selective oxi-
dation of sulfides to sulfoxides in the presence of a suitable
oxidant. A recent efficient methodology for the transformation of
sulfides into sulfoxides employs a vanadium based catalytic pro-
⇑
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 44 22574223; fax: +91 44 22574202.
E-mail address: dchakraborty@iitm.ac.in (D. Chakraborty).
0040-4039/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tetlet.2010.09.081

6256
R. Das, D. Chakraborty / Tetrahedron Letters 51 (2010) 6255–6258
Table 1
Table 2
Optimization of reaction conditions for the conversion of methyl phenyl sulfide to
methylsulfinylbenzene with different solvents, 5 equiv 70% t-BuOOH (water) and
5 mol % Cu(II) salts
CuBr2 catalyzed selective oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxidesa
5 mol% CuBr2
O
S
5 equiv. t-BuOOH (water)
MeCN, reflux
S
R
R'
R
R'
O
S
S
Cu(II) salt, t-BuOOH
solvent, reflux
Entry
1
Sulfide
Timeb (h)
0.75
Yieldc (%)
94
S
S
S
S
Entry
Catalyst
Solvent
Timea (h)
Yieldb (%)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
CuBr2
CuBr2
CuBr2
CuBr2
CuBr2
CuBr2
CuBr2
MeCN
EtOAc
Toluene
DMF
DMSO
EtOH
CH3NO2
MeCN
MeCN
MeCN
MeCN
MeCN
0.75
4.5
20
24
24
12
2
94
88
90
60
70
89
91
90
60
89
90
88
Et
2
3
4
2.25
2.50
2
93
94
93
Bu
CuCl2Á2H2O
Cu(OAc)2ÁH2O
CuSO4Á5H2O
Cu(NO3)2Á3H2O
Cu(acac)2
8
Ph
24
10
12
9
10
11
12
S
S
S
5
6
7
4
89
88
90
Cl
Cl
Cl
a
Monitored using TLC until all the sulfide was found consumed.
Isolated yield after column chromatography of the crude product.
b
Bu
5.50
3.50
even in the presence of 10 mol % CuBr2 and 20 equiv t-BuOOH
(water), making this conversion 100% selective.
Ph
Having optimized the right conditions for sulfoxidation, we
continued our quest with a variety of aromatic and aliphatic sub-
strates (Table 2). A variety of substituted and unsubstituted aryl–
alkyl (Table 2, entries 1–11), diaryl (Table 2, entry 12), benzyl–aryl
(Table 2, entries 4, 7 and 10), and dialkyl sulfide (Table 2, entry 18)
were successfully and selectively oxidized to the corresponding
sulfoxides in high yields and purity. Sulfides with additional func-
tionalities susceptible to oxidation or deprotection such as alkenes
(Table 2, entries 13 and 19), alkynes (Table 2, entry 14), phenol
(Table 2, entry 15), nitrile (Table 2, entry 16), and oxime (Table
2, entry 17) were found to yield sulfoxides without affecting the
sensitive functional groups. It is interesting to note that no epoxi-
dation was observed during the oxidation of allyl phenyl sulfide
(Table 2, entry 13). Phenyl propargyl sulfide was oxidized to the
sulfoxide in good yields (Table 2, entry 14) without any dimeriza-
tion. Again, it is very important to note that not a trace of sulfone
was ever seen in the mass spectra of the various crude reaction
mixtures.
S
8
9
1.50
1.30
1.50
93
94
91
S
S
Bu
S
Ph
10
Bu
11
1.60
93
MeO
S
12
13
14
12
87
85
86
S
S
22
2.30
Our catalytic system has the capability of transforming disul-
fides to disulfoxides under similar reaction conditions. The results
are depicted in Table 3.
This reaction reveals the same general trends as seen for sul-
fides (Table 2). It is noteworthy that neither mono sulfoxide nor
sulfone was realized in this reaction.
S
15
16
3
92
85
HO
OH
OH
S
S
2.75
The kinetic studies of the sulfoxidation with methyl phenyl sul-
fide, bis(4-hydroxy)phenylsulfide and 4-methoxydilsulfide were
explored next. High-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) was
used to determine the various starting materials and products
present as a function of time. The concentration of reactant and
product for the oxidation of methyl phenyl sulfide is shown in
Figure 1. The concentration of the sulfide decreases steadily while
that of the sulfoxide increases. We have calculated the rate of such
reactions. As an example let us consider the conversion of methyl
phenyl sulfide into methylsulfinylbenzene. Van’t Hoff differential
method was used to determine the order (n) and rate constant
(k) (Fig. 2). From Figure 1, the rate of the reaction at different con-
centrations can be estimated by evaluating the slope of the tangent
at each point on the curve corresponding to that of methyl phenyl
sulfide. With these data, log10 (rate) versus log10 (concentration) is
plotted. The order (n) and rate constant (k) are given by the slope of
CN
17
24
80
N
S
18
19
2.25
1.60
89
88
S
a
Reactions performed in MeCN with 5 mol % CuBr2 and 5 equiv 70% t-BuOOH
under reflux conditions.
b
Monitored using TLC until all the sulfide was found consumed.
Isolated yield after column chromatography of the crude.
c
the line and its intercept on the log10 (rate) axis. From Figure 2, it is
clear that this reaction proceeds with second-order kinetics
(n = 2.03) and the rate constant k = 1.32 Â 10À2 L molÀ1 sÀ1. For
the other substrates namely bis(4-hydroxy)phenylsulfide and

R. Das, D. Chakraborty / Tetrahedron Letters 51 (2010) 6255–6258
6257
Table 3
-2.8
Y = - 1.8809 + 2.0323X
CuBr2 catalyzed selective oxidation of disulfides to disulfoxidesa
-3.0
-3.2
-3.4
-3.6
-3.8
-4.0
-4.2
-4.4
-4.6
-4.8
-5.0
-5.2
-5.4
-5.6
-5.8
O
S
5 mol% CuBr2
R
5 equiv. t-BuOOH (water)
MeCN, reflux
R
S
S
O
R'
S
R'
Entry
1
Disulfide
Timeb (h)
18
Yieldc (%)
87
S
S
S
2
3
10
21
85
86
S
Cl
-1.9 -1.8 -1.7 -1.6 -1.5 -1.4 -1.3 -1.2 -1.1 -1.0 -0.9 -0.8 -0.7 -0.6 -0.5 -0.4
S
log10
C
S
Cl
Figure 2. Van’t Hoff differential plot for the oxidation of methylphenylsulfide with
5 mol % CuBr2 and 5 equiv tBuOOH in acetonitrile under reflux condition.
OMe
S
4
1.50
92
S
.
+
+
O
O
O
MeO
t-BuOH
Cu(II) +
O
O H
Cu(II)
Cu
(III)
a
Reactions performed in MeCN with 5 mol % CuBr2 and 5 equiv 70% t-BuOOH
under reflux conditions.
active oxidant
b
Monitored using TLC until all the disulfide was found consumed.
Isolated yield after column chromatography of the crude.
c
S
R'
R
.
+
R'
S R
C7H8S
C7H8SO
R'
S R
O
S
O
O
Cu(II) +
R'
R
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
Cu
Cu
(II)
(III)
oxidant-substrate complex
Scheme 1. Proposed mechanism for sulfoxidation.
to sulfoxides with a table top reagent such as CuBr2.26 It is note-
worthy that this method does not use ligands and other additives.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by Department of Science and Tech-
nology and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, NewDelhi.
The services from the NMR facility purchased under the FIST pro-
gram, sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology,
New Delhi is gratefully acknowledged.
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Supplementary data
Time (S)
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in
the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.tetlet.2010.09.081.
Figure 1. Concentration versus time in the oxidation of methylphenylsulfide with
5 mol % CuBr2 and 5 equiv tBuOOH in acetonitrile under reflux condition.
References and notes
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,
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0.05 mmol) and sulfide/disulfide (1 mmol) in 2.5 mL MeCN was added 70% t-
BuOOH (water) (0.64 mL, 5 mmol). The reaction mixture was heated to reflux
and the progress was monitored by TLC until all sulfide/disulfide was found
consumed. After completion, MeCN was evaporated and the crude mixture was
washed with NaHCO3 and extracted with ethyl acetate. The ethyl acetate was
evaporated followed by flash column purification to obtain the pure sulfoxides.
The product was characterized using 1H, 13C NMR spectroscopy and ESI-MS.
The data were found to be in accordance with the literature (see
Supplementary data).