Elemental sulfur-derived polysulfide salts in synthesis of high sulfur content polymers

The decline of petroleum-based fossil resources and the growing environmental concerns pose significant challenges in the manufacture of polymeric materials. The development of polymeric materials from green, renewable and sustainable sources remains a focus of ongoing research. Elemental sulfur, widely available both as a natural resource and a by-product of the petroleum industry, presents a promising option for the sustainable production of various functional polymeric materials. Recent interest in using elemental sulfur as a foundational component for fabrication of novel polymeric materials has largely centered on the method known as inverse vulcanization. This approach involves the direct copolymerization of elemental sulfur with monomers that contain vinyl groups. Despite its advantages, a fundamental limitation of inverse vulcanization is its reliance on high temperatures an alternative approach to producing sulfur-rich polymers involves using polysulfide salts derived from elemental sulfur in nucleophilic addition/substitution driven step-growth polymerizations or crosslinking reactions. Bifunctional alkali polysulfide salts are readily derived from elemental sulfur and represent promising nucleophilic polythiolate anion sources for use in polymer synthesis. In this review, the synthetic strategies for the fabrication of polysulfide polymers by utilization of elemental sulfur-derived alkali polysulfides as monomeric components are discussed.