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.