Inverse vulcanization is a potential route to the use of the large excesses of elemental sulfur, creating high-sulfur-content polymers with many potential applications. The addition of a metal diethyldithiocarbamate catalyst was previously found to bring several benefits to inverse vulcanization, making the process more attractive industrially. Herein is reported the establishment and exploration of a library of catalysts for inverse vulcanization. Three ranges of catalysts and up to 32 compounds and their combinations have been investigated. By trialing these alternative catalysts, several tentative deductions about the mechanism have been made. It has been found that stronger nucleophiles give a greater rate enhancement, but with the tradeoff that harder bases may promote hydrogen sulfide byproduct formation. Monomer binding by the cation may be a crucial mechanistic step, and it is possible that the catalysts act as phase transfer agents between the immiscible sulfur and organic phases. Additionally, the versatility of catalytic inverse vulcanization has been demonstrated with several different comonomer families.

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Inverse vulcanised sulfur polymer nanoparticles prepared by antisolvent precipitation–demonstrated as mercury ion absorbent in solution, showing high selectivity and capacity, and as membrane filters.

Inverse vulcanised polymers have received significant research attention on account of their easy, modifiable, and low-cost synthesis. These polymers are synthesized from the industrial by-product, elemental sulfur, resulting in a...

Sulfur-rich polymers generated from the inverse vulcanization of elemental sulfur with unsaturated monomers have emerged as a family of organic polymers with unique functionalities and broad potential applications. First described in 2013, inverse vulcanization is still in its infancy regarding its fundamental development, property exploration of the resultant polymers, and practical utilizations. Herein, the robust properties of sulfur-rich composites generated by inverse vulcanization with SiO2-embedded elemental sulfur are revealed, furnishing superhydrophobicity with static water contact angles of up to 154.7 ± 1.8°, a high anticorrosive effect of 98.9% protection efficiency for Mg alloy in 3.5 wt % NaCl solution, and a good antibacterial performance against Escherichia coli (81%) and Staphylococcus aureus (75%). The resulted composite also shows excellent self-cleaning functionalities. This has not only expanded the properties/functionalities and applications of the sulfur-rich polymers resulting from inverse vulcanization but also provided low-cost alternatives to superhydrophobic coating materials for practical applications.