The world is witnessing a growing interest in the utilization of waste materials to reduce environmental burden, add product value and promote sustainability. Such noble goals are being supported by the implementation of a number of approaches, including green chemistry. Currently, accumulation of large amounts of waste elemental sulfur, a by-product produced in gas and petroleum refineries, is posing an environmental concern and requires immediate intervention to search for new routes to make high-value materials from it. Inverse vulcanization is a new copolymerization technique allowing formation of stable sulfur-based polymers (sulfur copolymers) against the depolymerization of sulfur chains. Such a new class of polymers has demonstrated great properties for several environmental and renewable-energy applications. This paper reviews the advances in the evolution of sulfur copolymers prepared by inverse vulcanization with various monomers, including not only petro-based monomers but also renewable monomers as well as vegetable oils. Several applications of the obtained sulfur-based polymers are discussed. The challenges and future research directions to develop new polymers further and extend their applications are elaborated.

中文翻译：

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反硫化硫基聚合物：促进绿色化学的新途径

全世界对利用废料减少环境负担、增加产品价值和促进可持续性的兴趣日益浓厚。包括绿色化学在内的许多方法的实施正在支持这些崇高目标。目前，大量废弃元素硫（天然气和石油精炼厂产生的副产品）的积累正在引发环境问题，需要立即进行干预以寻找新的途径来从中制造高价值材料。反向硫化是一种新的共聚技术，可以形成稳定的硫基聚合物（硫共聚物），防止硫链解聚。这种新型聚合物已在多种环境和可再生能源应用中表现出出色的性能。本文回顾了通过与各种单体（不仅包括石油基单体，还包括可再生单体和植物油）进行反硫化制备的硫共聚物的发展进展。讨论了所获得的硫基聚合物的几种应用。阐述了进一步开发新聚合物并扩展其应用的挑战和未来研究方向。