Dynamic Covalent Polymerization of Chalcogenide Hybrid Inorganic/Organic Polymer Resins with Norbornenyl Comonomers

Elemental sulfur (S8) is an inexpensive chemical feedstock for polymeric materials but has the disadvantages of poor solubility in organic media and inferior physical properties in the elemental form. We report on the preparation of organosulfur chalcogenide hybrid inorganic/organic polymer (CHIPs) based on bifunctional norbornene comonomers using dynamic covalent polymerization (DCP). A poly(sulfur-random-styrene) (p(S-r-Sty)) resin was utilized to address the limited solubility/ miscibility of norbornene-containing comonomers in liquid sulfur. This report demonstrated the ability to expand the scope of organic comonomers to prepare organosulfur CHIPs from elemenatal sulfur using a combination of inverse vulcanization and dynamic covalent polymerization.