Sulfur and Its Role In Modern Materials Science

Abstract

Although well-known and studied for centuries, sulfur continues to be at the center of an extensive array of scientific research topics. As one of the most abundant elements in the Universe, a major by-product of oil refinery processes, and as a common reaction site within biological systems, research involving sulfur is both broad in scope and incredibly important to our daily lives. Indeed, there has been renewed interest in sulfur-based reactions in just the past ten years. Sulfur research spans the spectrum of topics within the physical sciences including research on improving energy efficiency, environmentally friendly uses for oil refinery waste products, development of polymers with unique optical and mechanical properties, and materials produced for biological applications. This Review focuses on some of the latest exciting ways in which sulfur and sulfur-based reactions are being utilized to produce materials for application in energy, environmental, and other practical areas.

High sulfur content polymers: The effect of crosslinker structure on inverse vulcanization

“…More than 60 million tonnes of excess sulfur are produced annually by hydrodesulfurization of crude oil and gas . Conventional uses of sulfur only use a fraction of this supply. Production of polymeric materials from sulfur would alleviate this, but pure sulfur polymers are unstable and depolymerize back to S 8 .…”

“… Conventional uses of sulfur only use a fraction of this supply. Production of polymeric materials from sulfur would alleviate this, but pure sulfur polymers are unstable and depolymerize back to S 8 . However, “inverse vulcanization,” first reported by Pyun and coworkers, allows the stabilization of sulfur polymers by a small organic molecule that acts as a crosslinker against depolymerization, such as 1,3‐diisopropenylbenzene (DIB) [Fig.…”

Catalytic Isofunctional Reactions—Expanding the Repertoire of Shuttle and Metathesis Reactions

“…[136] Cross-coupling processes analogous to the Buchwald-Hartwig reaction have emerged that provide expedient access to this motif. [136] Cross-coupling processes analogous to the Buchwald-Hartwig reaction have emerged that provide expedient access to this motif.…”

An Investigation on the Production of Random Copolymer with Monothiocarbonate and Trithiocarbonate Units over Cyclic Thiocarbonate via Metal‐free Catalysis

“…The thusly formed high RI polymer is an important class of materials that have been widely developed in recent years for optical components due to their lightweight, high impact resistance, low cost and easy processing . Remarkably, polymerization with elemental sulfur (S 8 ) is a universal way to provide sulfur‐rich polymers with high RI, and these polymers performed well in Li‐S batteries, metal ion detection, IR imaging technology and self‐healing materials . Here we propose that O‐S ER could be utilized as an atom redistribution process, by which we could synthesize poly(thiocarbonate)s from CS 2 with precise structure and easily tunable sulfur content, thus to produce sulfur containing polymers with high RI.…”