Patent ID: 7273954

Claim:
A method for the production of aliphatic and aromatic carbonyl compounds having at least one aldehyde or ketone function, and these compounds may also simultaneously have at least one aldehyde and ketone function, wherein at least one starting material, which has at least one aliphatically and/or aromatically bonded functional group of formula I in which R 1 stands for hydrogen, alkyl or aryl, X stands for hydrogen or a group that can be substituted during the catalytic reaction for the sulfinyl group of a sulfoxide, and n stands for integral values between 1 and 8, is oxidized, in the presence of at least one sulfoxide and/or at least one sulfide in the simultaneous presence of iron salts or redox pairs of iron-copper or silver-copper salts, by means of at least one oxidant having a redox potential of E 0 ≧+2 V vs. NHE, the sulfoxide and/or the sulfide being used in a catalytic function.