Water as a monomer: synthesis of an aliphatic polyethersulfone from divinyl sulfone and water

• Published in: Chemical science (Cambridge) Vol. 13; no. 23; pp. 692 - 6928
• Main Authors: Ratzenböck, Karin, Ud Din, Mir Mehraj, Fischer, Susanne M, agar, Ema, Pahovnik, David, Boese, A. Daniel, Rettenwander, Daniel, Slugovc, Christian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 15.06.2022; The Royal Society of Chemistry
• Subjects: Aliphatic compounds; Chemistry; Lithium; Monomers; Polyethersulfones; Polymerization; Polymers; Room temperature
• ISSN: 2041-6520; 2041-6539
• DOI: 10.1039/d2sc02124b

Using water as a monomer in polymerization reactions presents a unique and exquisite strategy towards more sustainable chemistry. Herein, the feasibility thereof is demonstrated by the introduction of the oxa-Michael polyaddition of water and divinyl sulfone. Upon nucleophilic or base catalysis, the corresponding aliphatic polyethersulfone is obtained in an interfacial polymerization at room temperature in high yield (>97%) within an hour. The polyethersulfone is characterized by relatively high molar mass averages and a dispersity around 2.5. The polymer was tested as a solid polymer electrolyte with lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) as the salt. Free-standing amorphous membranes were prepared by a melt process in a solvent-free manner. The polymer electrolyte containing 15 wt% LiTFSI featured an oxidative stability of up to 5.5 V vs. Li/Li + at 45 °C and a conductivity of 1.45 × 10 −8 S cm −1 at room temperature. This study describes the first example of the polymerization of water as one of two monomers. The obtained polymer allows for a solvent-free preparation of polymer electrolyte membranes exhibiting a high oxidative stability.