Elemental sulfur is an abundant, inexpensive, and underused product of petroleum refinement. Inverse vulcanization exploits sulfur's ability to undergo ring-opening, radical polymerization, which is then able to initiate propagation with an unsaturated organic molecule. These products are beneficial due to their high sulfur content (50-90%), but they are completely insoluble in water, and are therefore limited in their uses. The purpose of this project is to improve water solubility by determining the impact of incorporating various positive and negatively charged monomers as well as zwitterionic compounds into polysulfides. Polymers were formed using a variation of inverse vulcanization by stirring the combined reactants at 160 oC for 30 minutes, then increasing the temperature to 200 oC for an additional 30 minutes. Products were characterized using 1H NMR to determine the degree of polymerization. Water solubility testing was performed on fully polymerized products. Polymers formed through the incorporation of ammonium based monomers produced products yielding 98% water solubility. The use of zwitterionic monomers was key in identifying the role of charge dispersion. The resulting polymers were used as a direct comparison between polymers with a pre-established charged structure and polymers with an unpredictable variation in the charge. By varying the amount of positive and negatively charged monomers, we were able to compare the differences in water solubility and determine the role of charge and the overall charge dispersion.

Use of charged monomers to create hydrophilic polysulfides

ACS Spring 2022

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