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However, the low ring strain of eight-membered rings, i.e., S\n                    <jats:sub>8<\/jats:sub>\n                    monomers, compromises their ring-opening polymerization (ROP) due to lack of an enthalpic driving force and as a consequence, poly(sulfur) is inherently unstable. Here we report that copolymerization with cyclic disulfides, e.g., 1,2-dithiolanes, can enable a simple and energy-saving way to convert elementary sulfur into sulfur-rich thermoplastics. The key strategy is to combine two types of ROP\u2014both mediated by disulfide bond exchange\u2014to tackle the thermodynamic instability of poly(sulfur). Meanwhile, the readily modifiable sidechain of the cyclic disulfides provides chemical space to engineer the mechanical properties and dynamic functions over a large range, e.g., self-repairing ability and degradability. Thus, this simple and robust system is expected to be a starting point for the organic transformation of inorganic sulfur toward sulfur-rich functional and green plastics.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-024-48097-4","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,8]],"date-time":"2024-05-08T05:02:19Z","timestamp":1715144539000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":98,"title":["Converting inorganic sulfur into degradable thermoplastics and adhesives by copolymerization with cyclic disulfides"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4289-3989","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yuanxin","family":"Deng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhengtie","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0588-8435","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ben L.","family":"Feringa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3547-7485","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"He","family":"Tian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8616-5452","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Qi","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2039-3564","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Da-Hui","family":"Qu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"48097_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"429","DOI":"10.1021\/cr60230a004","volume":"64","author":"B Meyer","year":"1964","unstructured":"Meyer, B. 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The authors that are not named in the patent declare no other competing interests.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"3855"}}