Alkyl, aryl and diaryl sulfides afford excellent yields of sulfoxides
with PhIO supported on natural (montmorillonite, KSF and bentonite cla
y) as well as cation-exchanged clays of K10-montmorillonite in acetoni
trile suspension and also in solid state. A Ligand coupling mechanism
for this facile oxidation is proposed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.