Nickel (II) and oxovanadium (IV) complexes supported on MCM-41 mesoporous and their application in catalytic selective sulfide and thiol oxidation

Introduction:: MCM-41 was synthesized using the sol-gel method. Then two new transition metal complexes of Nickel (II) and Vanadium (IV), were synthesized by immobilization of adenine (6-aminopurine) into MCM-41 mesoporous. The compounds have been characterized by XRD, TGA, SEM, AAS and FT-IR spectral studies. Using these catalysts provided an efficient and enantioselective procedure for oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides and oxidative coupling of thiols to their corresponding disulfides using hydrogen peroxide at room temperature. Materials and Methods:: To a solution of sulfide or thiol (1 mmol) and H2O2 (5 mmol), a determined amount of the catalyst was added. The reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for the specific time under solvent free conditions. The progress of the reaction was monitored by TLC using n-hexane: acetone (8:2). Afterwards, the catalyst was removed from the reaction mixture by centrifugation and, then, washed with dichloromethane in order to give the pure products. Results:: All the products were obtained in excellent yields and short reaction times indicating the high activity of the synthesized catalysts. Besides, the catalysts can be recovered and reused for several runs without significant loss in their catalytic activity. Conclusion:: These catalytic systems furnish the products very quickly with excellent yields and VO-6AP-MCM-41 shows high catalytic activity compared to Ni-6AP-MCM-41.