Base-activated Sulfur

Base activated sulfur can serve as an interesting system to enable the synthesis of a variety of compounds. With sulfur being a waste product of the petrochemical industry, it is of high interest to implement sulfur into chemically valuable materials. In our group, the activation of sulfur with a base has been used to access a variety of structures in a more sustainable fashion (i.e. be reducing waste and/or avoiding toxic reagents) including isothiocyanates, thiocarbamates, thiourea organocatalysts, polythiosemicarbazones and alkenes.

Working on this topic: Hendrik Kirchhoff, Peter Conen, Andreas Ganzbuhl

Recent publications

Conen, P.; Meier, M. A. R. (2024). Reactivities and mechanisms in organic reactions involving activation of elemental sulfur under basic conditions. Tetrahedron Chem, 11, Art.-Nr.: 100086. doi:10.1016/j.tchem.2024.100086

Conen, P.; Nickisch, R.; Meier, M. A. R. (2023). Synthesis of highly substituted alkenes by sulfur-mediated olefination of N-tosylhydrazones. Communications Chemistry, 6 (1), Art.-Nr.: 255. doi:10.1038/s42004-023-01058-2

Nickisch, R.; de Vos, W. M.; Meier, M. A. R.; Baig, M. I. (2023). Removal of Transition-Metal Ions by Metal-Complexing Polythiosemicarbazone Membranes. ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 5 (9), 7240–7251. doi:10.1021/acsapm.3c01192

Wolfs, J.; Ribca, I.; Meier, M. A. R.; Johansson, M. (2023). Polythionourethane Thermoset Synthesis via Activation of Elemental Sulfur in an Efficient Multicomponent Reaction Approach. ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 11 (9), 3952–3962. doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c00143

Earlier Fundamental Contributions

Nickisch, R.; Conen, P.; Meier, M. A. R. (2022). Polythiosemicarbazones by Condensation of Dithiosemicarbazides and Dialdehydes. Macromolecules, 55 (8), 3267–3275. doi:10.1021/acs.macromol.2c00409

Wolfs, J.; Nickisch, R.; Wanner, L.; Meier, M. A. R. (2021). Sustainable One-Pot Cellulose Dissolution and Derivatization via a Tandem Reaction in the DMSO/DBU/CO2 Switchable Solvent System. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 143 (44), 18693−18702. doi:10.1021/jacs.1c08783

Nickisch, R.; Conen, P.; Gabrielsen, S. M.; Meier, M. A. R. (2021). A more sustainable isothiocyanate synthesis by amine catalyzed sulfurization of isocyanides with elemental sulfur. RSC Advances, 11 (5), 3134–3142. doi:10.1039/d0ra10436a