Inverse vulcanization of elemental sulfur catalyzed by trialkyl amines

Abstract

In this study, catalytic inverse vulcanization based on trialkyl amines (TAAs) is presented. With oleophilic alkyl chain moieties, low-cost organic TAAs promote time-efficient reactions as nucleophilic activators, even at a low-temperature of 110 °C. TAAs improve the reaction yield and thermal properties of products, and suppress toxic H₂S gas generation. Besides, TAAs can be extracted from the product and recycled again, showing eco-friendly characteristics. This study broadens the application range of sulfur-rich copolymers by utilizing TAAs that can inverse vulcanize the elemental sulfur with various unreactive crosslinkers.