Anionic Copolymerization of Styrene Sulfide with Elemental Sulfur (S8)

Jakub Wręczycki; Dariusz M Bieliński; Marcin Kozanecki; Paulina Maczugowska; Grzegorz Mlostoń

doi:10.3390/ma13112597

Anionic Copolymerization of Styrene Sulfide with Elemental Sulfur (S₈)

Materials (Basel). 2020 Jun 7;13(11):2597. doi: 10.3390/ma13112597.

Authors

Jakub Wręczycki¹, Dariusz M Bieliński¹, Marcin Kozanecki², Paulina Maczugowska², Grzegorz Mlostoń³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Polymer and Dye Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Lodz University of Technology, 12/16 Stefanowskiego Street, 90-924 Lodz, Poland.
² Department of Molecular Physics, Faculty of Chemistry, Lodz University of Technology, 116 Zeromskiego Street, 90-924 Lodz, Poland.
³ Department of Organic and Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Lodz, 12 Tamka Street, 91-403 Lodz, Poland.

Abstract

The superior ability of thiiranes (episulfides) to undergo ring-opening polymerization (ROP) in the presence of anionic initiators allows the preparation of chemically stable polysulfide homopolymers. Incorporation of elemental sulfur (S₈) by copolymerization below the floor temperature of S₈ permits the placement of a large quantity of sulfur atoms in the polysulfide mainchain. The utility of styrene sulfide (2-phenylthiirane; StS) for copolymerization with elemental sulfur is reported here. A few polysulfides differing depending on the initial ratio of S₈ to StS and copolymerization time were synthesized. Various spectroscopic methods (¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, Raman spectroscopy and FTIR spectroscopy) were applied to characterize the chemical structure of the copolymers. Additionally, the phase structure and thermal stability of the synthesized polysulfides were investigated using DSC and TGA, respectively. The successful anionic copolymerization of styrene sulfide and elemental sulfur has been demonstrated.

Keywords: elemental sulfur copolymers; poly (styrene sulfide); polysulfides; styrene sulfide.