The chemoselective oxidation of sulfides to corresponding sulfoxides is an interest method in organic chemistry, because sulfoxides have important role in biological application, enzymes activation, separation of radioactive or less common metals and in medicinal chemistry. Therefore, to keep pace green chemistry principles, herein we have investigated 5-nitro-salicylaldehyde Schiff-base complex of cadmium on MCM-41 (Cd-5NSA-MCM-41) as an efficient, stable, reusable, biocompatibility and chemoselective catalyst for the synthesis of sulfoxide derivatives from oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides using hydrogen peroxide as an environmentally friendly oxidant. Because, hydrogen peroxide offers several advantages such as readily available, cheapness, and biocompatibility which form water as only byproduct. Also, oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides in the presence of Cd-5NSA-MCM-41 is carried out in ethanol, which is completely environmentally friendly because it is cheap, available and non-toxic. More important, this catalyst can recycled for several times without significant loss in catalytic activity.
