Each year petroleum refining produces millions of tons of elemental sulfur. With few applications, the stock of elemental sulfur continues to grow with each year. This work focuses on the synthesis of polysulfides using polar monomers. Due to their hydrophilic nature, polar monomers are unlikely to be miscible with sulfur. Garlic essential oil, which contains allyl sulfides, allows thiyl radical formation at lower temperatures and presents fewer miscibility issues in comparison to elemental sulfur. By inducing radical formation, interaction and potential polymerization is able to take place between the sulfur-containing material and the polar monomer. The polysulfides are synthesized using elemental sulfur or garlic essential oil as the sulfur-containing material and methacrylamide or polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the polar monomer. NMR spectroscopy, IR, DSC and TLC are used to characterize each of the polysulfides. The goal of this project is to form a reproducible polymer disk that will allow the examination of the fundamental properties, specifically the swelling properties of these polysulfides. As this project progresses, the goal will be to synthesize a polysulfide hydrogel capable of swelling with water and other solvents. These hydrogels could have potential biomedical applications, for example wound care and therapeutic treatments.

Synthesis of polysulfides using polar monomers to form sulfur-containing hydrogels

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.