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PreprintCC BY-NC-NDChemRxiv

When Ethylene Meets Sulfur: Direct Synthesis of Minimal Ethylene-Sulfur Copolymers

  • Jules Henrotte1
  • Francesco Zaccaria2,3
  • Alessio Mingione2
  • Hatice Mutlu4,5,6,7,8
  • Anton Ginzburg1
8 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven, Wetenschapspark 27, Diepenbeek, Belgium, 3590
  2. 2Xplore s.r.l, Viale delle Industrie - III traversa, Carinaro, CE, Italy, 81032
  3. 3Institut de Química Computacional i Catàlisi (IQCC) and Departament de Química, Universitat de Girona
  4. 4Institut de Science des Matériaux de Mulhouse (IS2M, UMR 7361 CNRS/Université de Haute Alsace (UHA, 15 rue Jean Starcky, Mulhouse Cedex, France, 68057
  5. 5Leibniz-Institut für Verbundwerkstoffe (IVW) GmbH, Erwin-Schrödinger-Straße 58, Kaiserslautern, Germany, 67663
  6. 6Laboratory of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry (IOMC, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Humboldtstr. 10, Jena, Germany, 07743
  7. 7Helmholtz Institute for Polymers in Energy Applications Jena (HIPOLE Jena, Lessingstr. 12–14, Jena, Germany, 07743
  8. 8Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin for Materials and Energy GmbH
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Abstract

In inverse vulcanization chemistry, research has predominantly focused on multifunctional unsaturated comonomers to stabilize sulfur-rich structures, whereas the direct copolymerization of elemental sulfur with simple olefins has remained comparatively unexplored. Extending this concept to the simplest olefin, we report Minimal Ethylene-Sulfur Copolymers (MinESC), synthesized through the direct reaction of gaseous ethylene with elemental sulfur via a base-mediated inverse vulcanization approach under mild conditions. These materials are viscoelastic fluids of tunable viscosity reaching exceptionally high values. They exhibit a peculiar sheet-like morphology, polar surfaces, elevated electrical conductivity, and high permittivity, and can be reprocessed into predominantly elastic structures following thermal treatment. Our approach provides a straightforward route to a distinct class of sulfurethylene-derived functional materials and demonstrates that inverse vulcanization chemistry can be extended to the simplest olefin under industrially relevant pressures and temperatures.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{henrotte2026when,
  title = {{When Ethylene Meets Sulfur: Direct Synthesis of Minimal Ethylene-Sulfur Copolymers}},
  author = {Jules Henrotte and Francesco Zaccaria and Alessio Mingione and Hatice Mutlu and Anton Ginzburg},
  howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15010293/v1},
  url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010293/v1},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - When Ethylene Meets Sulfur: Direct Synthesis of Minimal Ethylene-Sulfur Copolymers
AU  - Jules Henrotte
AU  - Francesco Zaccaria
AU  - Alessio Mingione
AU  - Hatice Mutlu
AU  - Anton Ginzburg
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/12
PB  - ChemRxiv
DO  - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15010293/v1
UR  - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010293/v1
AB  - In inverse vulcanization chemistry, research has predominantly focused on multifunctional unsaturated comonomers to stabilize sulfur-rich structures, whereas the direct copolymerization of elemental sulfur with simple olefins has remained comparatively unexplored. Extending this concept to the simplest olefin, we report Minimal Ethylene-Sulfur Copolymers (MinESC), synthesized through the direct reaction of gaseous ethylene with elemental sulfur via a base-mediated inverse vulcanization approach under mild conditions. These materials are viscoelastic fluids of tunable viscosity reaching exceptionally high values. They exhibit a peculiar sheet-like morphology, polar surfaces, elevated electrical conductivity, and high permittivity, and can be reprocessed into predominantly elastic structures following thermal treatment. Our approach provides a straightforward route to a distinct class of sulfurethylene-derived functional materials and demonstrates that inverse vulcanization chemistry can be extended to the simplest olefin under industrially relevant pressures and temperatures.
ER  -