Formation of diaryl sulfides and sulfoxides: Synthesis, characterization and structure activity correlation studies
The synthesis of a series of stable diarylsulfides and sulfoxides is reported. All the newly synthesized compounds were characterized by 1H, 13C NMR and mass spectroscopic techniques. A detailed mechanistic study indicates that the formation of sulfoxides follows the oxidation. In addition to synthesis, characterization and mechanistic studies, the glutathione peroxidase(GPx) mimetic activity of the newly synthesized compounds is described. It is observed that the diaryl sulfides having a heterocyclic ring attached to the nitrogen atom facilitates the oxidation of the sulfur center to form the corresponding sulfoxides. The substituents attached to the nitrogen atom play an important role in the catalytic activity of the substituted diaryl sulfides. The obtained data supports for the higher antioxidant activity of diaryl sulfides than that of the corresponding sulfoxides.
