Production of organic disulfides

摘要

A process which can be used for producing an organic disulfide is provided. The process comprises the steps of: (1) contacting a base and a mercaptan under an effective condition for forming a brine phase comprising the base and a basic salt of a mercaptan; (2) contacting the brine phase with a mercaptan and hydrogen peroxide under a condition sufficient to effect the formation of an aqueous phase and an organic phase; (3) separating the aqueous phase from the organic phase; (4) recovering the organic phase; and optionally, (5) removing a portion of water from the aqueous phase and thereafter repeating the steps of (2) to (5).