(604a) High Performance Polymer Materials Via Polymerization with Commodity Sulfur Petrochemicals

An incredible surfeit of elemental sulfur (nearly 7 million tons annually) is generated via refining of fossil fuels to suppress hazardous emissions from gasoline. Furthermore, there are very limited uses for this waste sulfur in the chemical industry for various chemical, or material applications, the exception being sulfuric acid production. Hence, to address this important environmental and chemical challenge, we have developed new chemical synthetic and processing methods for the utilization of elemental sulfur to form polymeric materials. We recently demonstrated the use of liquid sulfur as the reaction medium for the synthesis of chemically stable and processable copolymer materials using a methodology, termed, inverse vulcanization. We discuss the significance of the “excess sulfur problem” along with new synthetic and polymerization methods that we have developed that directly utilize elemental sulfur and commodity sulfur chemicals as chemical feedstocks for polymeric materials. We will discuss the useful properties and applications derived from sulfur based plastics in the areas of optics, energy and defense.

Related Reviews on these topics:

1. “Polymerizations with Elemental Sulfur: A Novel Route to High Sulfur Content Polymers for Sustainability, Energy and Defense,” Griebel, J.J.; Glass, R.S.; Char, K.; Pyun, J. Polym. Polym. Sci. 2016, 58, 90-125
2. “100^th Anniversary of Macromolecular Science Viewpoint: High Refractive Index Polymers from Elemental Sulfur for Infrared Thermal Imaging and Optics,” Kleine, T.K.; Glass, R.S.; Lichtenberger, D.L.; Mackay, M.E; Char, K.; Norwood, R.; Pyun, J. ACS Macro Lett. 2020, 9, 245-259.
3. “Polymerizations with Elemental Sulfur: From Petroleum Refining to Polymeric Materials,” Lee, T.; Dirlam, P.D. Njardarson, J.T.; Glass, R.S.; Pyun J. JACS 2022, 144, 5-22