Decorated-magnetic-nanoparticle-supported bromine as a recyclable catalyst for the oxidation of sulfides

Herein, we present a strategy for supporting bromine as a catalyst for the oxidation of sulfides. In this strategy, branched poly(ethylene imine) was first decorated by magnetic oxide and then used to support liquid bromine to obtain solid polymeric bromine (M@PEI@Br) nanoparticles. Compared with free bromine, the stability of the M@PEI@Br nanoparticles improved obviously. The oxidation of thioanisole to methyl phenyl sulfoxide was chosen as a reaction model to evaluate the catalytic activity of the M@PEI@Br nanoparticles. All of the obtained results verify that the M@PEI@Br nanoparticles exhibited excellent catalytic efficiency and could accelerate the oxidation process under solvent-free conditions at room temperature; this highlighted the potential of decorated polymers to support active and unstable small-molecule organic catalysts. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135 , 46036.