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Sulfur-rich polymers

Making light of inverse vulcanization

Nature Synthesis volume 1, pages 835–836 (2022)Cite this article

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Inverse vulcanization uses high temperatures to form sulfur-rich polymers. Now, using a photoinduced method, polymerization occurs at ambient conditions enabling a broader selection of viable comonomers compared with existing routes, as well as eliminating the formation of toxic gas.

Sulfur has been incorporated into polymers for decades, however, there has been a recent resurgence of sulfur-based materials, in part, owing to the development of inverse vulcanization. Reported in 2013, inverse vulcanization is a fast, inexpensive, scalable method to produce polymers containing up to 90% sulfur1. Inverse vulcanization uses elemental sulfur (S8) — a by-product of petroleum refinement — as a monomer, solvent and initiator, forming polysulfides with high atom economy and eliminating the need for additional solvents.

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Fig. 1: Photoinduced inverse vulcanization of elemental sulfur and the range of monomers.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID, USA

    Jaclyn Dunn & Courtney L. Jenkins

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  1. Jaclyn Dunn
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  2. Courtney L. Jenkins
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Correspondence to Courtney L. Jenkins.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Dunn, J., Jenkins, C.L. Making light of inverse vulcanization. Nat. Synth 1, 835–836 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-022-00184-4

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