An Organodiselenide with Dual Mimic Function of Sulfhydryl Oxidases and Glutathione Peroxidases: Aerial Oxidation of Organothiols to Organodisulfides.

A novel organodiselenide, which mimics sulfhydryl oxidases and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) enzymes for oxidation of thiols by oxygen and hydrogen peroxide, respectively, into disulfides has been presented. The developed catalyst oxidizes an array of organothiols into respective disulfides in practical yields by using aerial O2 to avoid any reagents/additives, base, and light source. The synthesized diselenide also catalyzes the reduction of hydrogen peroxide into water by following the GPx enzymatic catalytic cycle with a reduction rate of 49.65 ± 3.7 μM·min-1.