Ring-Opening Terpolymerisation of Elemental Sulfur Waste with Propylene Oxide and Carbon Disulfide via Lithium Catalysis.

Elemental sulfur, a waste product of the oil refinement process, represents a promising raw material for the synthesis of degradable polymers. We show that simple lithium alkoxides facilitate the polymerisation of elemental sulfur S with industrially relevant propylene oxide (PO) and CS (a base chemical sourced from waste S itself) to give poly(monothiocarbonate-alt-S) in which x can be controlled by the amount of supplied sulfur. The in situ generation of thiolate intermediates obtained by a rearrangement, which follows CS and PO incorporation, allows to combine S and epoxides into one polymer sequence that would otherwise not be possible.

The Tris(pentafluorophenyl)methylium Cation: Isolation and Reactivity.

Herein, we present two different routes for the synthesis of the perfluorinated trityl cation, which allowed the handling of the free, uncoordinated species in organic solvents for the first time. The usage of the weakly coordinating anion [Al(OTeF ) ] and its derivatives allows the characterization of this species by NMR spectroscopy and most importantly by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The high hydride ion affinity of the cation is shown by hydrogen abstraction from isobutane.