In this communication, we report the effective oxidation of sulfides directly to sulfones without sulfoxide contamination in excellent yields at a faster rate for the first time using molecular oxygen as the stoichiometric oxidant and osmate exchanged layered double hydroxide (LDH–OsO 4 ) as a recyclable catalyst. The examination of transient surface intermediate species, prepared on interaction of LDH–OsO 4 with the sulfides, by using XPS and TGA–DTA–MS and ...