Highly efficient oxidation of sulfides with hydrogen peroxide catalyzed by [SeO4{WO(O2)2}2]2−

By using the selenium-containing dinuclear peroxotungstate at 0.005-0.1 mol%, various kinds of sulfides could be converted into the corresponding sulfoxides or sulfones in excellent yields with one or two equivalents of H(2)O(2) with respect to the sulfide, respectively.