Oxidative desulfurization of dibenzothiophene with hydrogen peroxide catalyzed by selenium(IV)-containing peroxotungstate

With stoichiometric H2O2 as oxidant, dibenzothiophene (DBT) is oxidized to its corresponding sulfone with high efficiency, catalyzed by a sub-valence heteronuclear peroxotungstate, [C18H37N(CH3)3]4[H2SeIV3W6O34], under mild biphase conditions and the catalyst shows remarkable selectivity of catalytic oxidation towards DBT, cinnamyl alcohol and quinoline.