The Polymer Society of Korea

Abstract

Inverse vulcanization enables the direct reaction of molten elemental sulfur with unsaturated organic comonomers to produce sulfur-rich polymers. We previously reported a one-step reactive compatibilization strategy using allyl glycidyl ether (AGE), yielding homogeneous sulfur networks despite the low olefin functionality of the comonomer. In this presentation, we extend this approach to AGE derivatives containing ethylene glycol spacers of varying lengths. Systematic comonomer design allows precise tuning of glass transition temperature and tensile behavior, with increased spacer flexibility leading to sub-zero glass transition temperatures and enhanced elongation, demonstrating structure–property control in inverse-vulcanized networks.