Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Journal of the Iranian Chemical Society https://doi.org/10.1007/s13738-019-01707-1 ORIGINAL PAPER Versatile catalysis of “natural extract”: oxidation of sulfdes and alcohols and ipso‑hydroxylation of arylboronic acids Apurba Dutta 1  · Abdul Aziz Ali 1  · Diganta Sarma 1 Received: 26 September 2018 / Accepted: 3 June 2019 © Iranian Chemical Society 2019 Abstract In the present work, we have described the versatile applications of naturally available inexpensive citrous lemon juice as biocatalyst for controlled oxidation of sulfdes and alcohols and ipso-hydroxylation of arylboronic acids using 30% H 2 O 2 as a green oxidant. A series of structurally divergent sulfdes and benzyl alcohols were oxidized to their corresponding sulfoxides and aldehydes, respectively, with good-to-excellent yields. Similarly, aryl and heteroaryl boronic acids were rapidly, often within minutes, transformed to their corresponding phenols at room temperature. Graphic abstract Keywords Green chemistry · Biocatalyst · Lemon juice · Oxidation · Ipso-hydroxylation · Hydrogen peroxide Introduction In the last few decades, “Green Chemistry” has been an indispensable issue in both academic and industrial felds, and lacking this approach, industrial chemistry is not sus- tainable [1–3]. Sulfoxide is a ubiquitous functional group, and the compounds containing sulfoxide moiety find importance in synthetic organic chemistry, pharmaceutical, biological, and industrial processes (Fig. 1) [4–7]. Thus con- trolled, environment-friendly catalytic oxidation of sulfdes to sulfoxides without formation of over-oxidized sulfones is one of the crucial reactions in organic chemistry. In this context, lots of works have been projected toward the search for precise oxidizing agents as well as a natural biomass- derived catalyst which are both cheap and non-toxic. H 2 O 2 , a cheap and efcient oxidizer, forms only eco-friendly water as a by-product, and like oxygen, it is considered as one of the most “green oxidants” till date. However, in sulfoxida- tion, a number of acid catalysts have been reported such as HNO 3 [8], p-TsOH [9], L-proline [10], boric acid [4], * Diganta Sarma dsarma22@gmail.com; dsarma22@dibru.ac.in 1 Department of Chemistry, Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh, Assam 786004, India