Alumina: an Efficient and Reusable Catalyst for the Oxidative Coupling of Thiols with DMSO

An inexpensive combination of common laboratory reagents, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and chromatographic neutral alumina, gives an efficient, selective, and high-yielding oxidation of aromatic, aliphatic and alicyclic thiols to the corresponding disulfides in excellent yields under relatively mild conditions.