Niobium(V) oxido tris-carbamate as easily available and robust catalytic precursor for the selective sulfide to sulfone oxidation

The oxidation of the sulfide function promoted by a variety of vanadium compounds has been largely explored, whereas the use of homogeneous catalytic systems based on the heavier group 5 metals remains less explored. We report the use of easily available niobium and tantalum carbamates, i.e. [M(O2CNMe2)5] (M = Nb, 1; M = Ta, 2), [Nb(O2CNMe2)4], 3, [NbO(O2CNEt2)3], 4, and [NbCl3(O2CNEt2)2], 5, as effective catalysts for the conversion of a series of alkyl aryl and aromatic sulfides into the corresponding sulfones. NMR investigations on the performant niobium catalyst 4 unexpectedly revealed the substantial stability of this compound in the protic catalytic environment, and a plausible catalytic cycle was obtained by DFT studies. The two active catalytic species, i.e. 4 and its minor mono-methoxide derivative, presumably interconvert to each other exploiting the versatile coordination of the carbamato ligand.