Mechanistic organic chemistry in a microreactor. Zeolite-controlled photooxidations of organic sulfides

The intrazeolite and solution photooxygenations of a series of sulfides have been compared. The unusual zeolite environment enhances the rates of reaction, it suppresses the Pummerer rearrangements, and it has a dramatic effect on the sulfoxide/sulfone ratio. A detailed kinetic study utilizing trapping experiments and intramolecular competition provides evidence for cation complexation to a persulfoxide intermediate as the underlying phenomenon for the unique intrazeolite behavior. For example, the enhanced rate of reaction is traced to the cation stabilization of the persulfoxide toward unproductive decomposition to substrate and triplet oxygen.