Selective synthesis of sulfoxides and sulfones via controllable oxidation of sulfides with N-fluorobenzenesulfonimide

A practical and mild method for the switchable synthesis of sulfoxides or sulfones via selective oxidation of sulfides using cheap N-fluorobenzenesulfonimide (NFSI) as the oxidant has been developed. These highly chemoselective transformations were simply achieved by varying the NFSI loading with H₂O as the green solvent and oxygen source without any additives. The good functional group tolerance makes the strategy valuable.