Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, Vol.235, 207-213, 2018
Desulfurization of thiophenes in oils into H2SO4 using molecular oxygen
Because the reactivity of aromatic C-S bond is almost equal to that of hydrocarbon compounds of oils, it is difficult to convert thiophene and its derivatives into inorganic SO. using the current mild oxidative desulfurization (ODS) strategies for the production of clean fuels. Instead, they are generally transformed into sulfoxides and sulfones, which are not easily separated from fuel feedstock. Herein, we report an approach in which the commercially available heteropolyacid H3PW12O40 in a CH3CN/iso-octane biphasic system can photo catalytically activate dioxygen to convert most thiophenic species to H2SO4 (yield similar to 75%).