Molybdate and Tungstate Doped Porous Carbons as Hydrogen Peroxide Activation Catalysts for Sulfide Oxidations

Molybdenum and tungsten compounds activate hydrogen peroxide in homogeneous solution to oxidize a variety of substrates including organic sulfides. MoO{sub 4}{sup 2-} is also a remarkable nucleophile with a second-order rate constant 35 times that of phosphate for the hydrolysis of p-nitro-phenylacetate in spite of phosphate having a 1000-fold larger basicity. This research demonstrates that absorbent carbons, pore filled with molybdate and tungstate ions, are very effective catalysts for the oxidation of sulfides with 30% aqueous H{sub 2}O{sub 2}. The novel feature of these catalysts is that they carry out oxidations under basic conditions where G-agents would also undergo catalyzed hydrolysis.