Fe^II-MOFs Catalyze the High Selective Oxidation of Sulfides Induced by Visible Light

In this article, two new three-dimensional (3D) Fe^II-MOFs (1 and 2) were successfully constructed, which can be employed as efficient heterogeneous photocatalysts in the product-selective oxidation of sulfides achieved by using hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) as the green oxidant. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations proved that MOF 1 has higher catalytic activity than MOF 2. As an efficient visible light-induced heterogeneous photocatalyst, MOF 1 displays superior photocatalytic activity in the product-selective oxidation of sulfides using H₂O₂. The oxidation products were sulfones when the reaction occurred in methanol (MeOH), and the oxidation products switched to sulfoxides when a small amount of water was added to the reaction system. Furthermore, the excellent catalytic activity of MOF 1 is well maintained even after 5 cycles and the plausible photocatalytic mechanism was investigated systematically. In the study of MOF photocatalytic, MOF 1 is the first MOF photocatalyst for efficient and selective transformation of sulfides into sulfones and sulfoxides using H₂O₂ under mild conditions.