Efficient Oxidation of Thiophene Derivatives with Homogeneous and Heterogeneous MTO/H2O2 systems: a novel approach for Oxidative Desulfurization (ODS) of Diesel Fuel

The oxidation of benzothiophene (BTs) and dibenzothiophene (DBTs) derivatives, of model fuel (MF) and authentic diesel fuel (ADF) with homogeneous and heterogeneous rhenium catalysts and H2O2 has been studied to design an alternative environmentally benign oxidative desulfurization process (ODS), for oil industry. The quantitative conversion of both BTs and DBTs derivatives was obtained in several of the cases investigated, to afford the corresponding sulfones as the only recovered products in very high yield. Excellent results in terms of both conversion of substrates and yields of sulfones were also obtained during oxidation of MF and ADF. Heterogeneous rhenium catalysts were stable systems to be used for several runs without any appreciable reduction of reactivity and selectivity.