Inverse Vulcanization of Styrylethyltrimethoxysilane-Coated Surfaces, Particles, and Crosslinked Materials

Johannes M Scheiger; Chatrawee Direksilp; Patricia Falkenstein; Alexander Welle; Meike Koenig; Stefan Heissler; Jörg Matysik; Pavel A Levkin; Patrick Theato

doi:10.1002/anie.202006522

Inverse Vulcanization of Styrylethyltrimethoxysilane-Coated Surfaces, Particles, and Crosslinked Materials

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2020 Oct 12;59(42):18639-18645. doi: 10.1002/anie.202006522.

Authors

Johannes M Scheiger^{1

2}, Chatrawee Direksilp³, Patricia Falkenstein⁴, Alexander Welle^{5

6}, Meike Koenig⁵, Stefan Heissler⁵, Jörg Matysik⁴, Pavel A Levkin², Patrick Theato^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Chemical Technology and Polymer Chemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Engesserstrasse 20, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany.
² Institute of Biological and Chemical Systems-Functional Materials Systems (IBCS-FMS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
³ The Petroleum and Petrochemical College (PPC), Chulalongkorn University, Soi Chulalongkorn 12, Phayathai road, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand.
⁴ Institute of Analytical Chemistry, Leipzig University, Linnéstrasse 3, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
⁵ Institute of Functional Interfaces (IFG), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Campus North), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
⁶ Karlsruhe Nano Micro Facility (KNMF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Campus North), Germany.
⁷ Soft Matter Synthesis Laboratory, Institute for Biological Interfaces III, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.

Abstract

Sulfur as a side product of natural gas and oil refining is an underused resource. Converting landfilled sulfur waste into materials merges the ecological imperative of resource efficiency with economic considerations. A strategy to convert sulfur into polymeric materials is the inverse vulcanization reaction of sulfur with alkenes. However, the materials formed are of limited applicability, because they need to be cured at high temperatures (>130 °C) for many hours. Herein, we report the reaction of elemental sulfur with styrylethyltrimethoxysilane. Marrying the inverse vulcanization and silane chemistry yielded high sulfur content polysilanes, which could be cured via room temperature polycondensation to obtain coated surfaces, particles, and crosslinked materials. The polycondensation was triggered by hydrolysis of poly(sulfur-r-styrylethyltrimethoxysilane) (poly(S_n -r-StyTMS) under mild conditions (HCl, pH 4). For the first time, an inverse vulcanization polymer could be conveniently coated and mildly cured via post-polycondensation. Silica microparticles coated with the high sulfur content polymer could improve their Hg²⁺ ion remediation capability.

Keywords: alkoxy silanes; coatings; inverse vulcanization; mercury remediation; sulfur.

Abstract

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