Selective copolymerization of CS2 and oxetane to synthesize poly(ether-thioether-carbonate)

Abstract

Carbon disulfide (CS2) is a low cost, abundant sulfur-derived feedstock that is potential for synthesizing value-added sulfur-containing polymers. This study discusses the synthesis of poly(ether-thioether-carbonate) from CS2 and oxetane (OX) via organocatalyst. The effects of temperatures, OX/CS2 feed ratios and various Lewis pairs on the chain components are examined. Three distinct repeating units, i.e., ether, thioether, and carbonate—could be regulated by varying the OX/CS2 feed ratios. Increasing the CS2/OX molar ratio substantially induced oxygen/sulfur exchange reaction (O/S ER), enabling efficient sulfur incorporation even under ambient conditions while completely suppressing ether linkage formation. This work provides a metal-free catalytic pathway of utilizing O/S ER to form sulfur-containing polymers.