Synthesis of polydithiourethanes and their thermal,optical, and mechanical properties originated from monomers structure

Polyaddition of various diisothiocyanates and dithiols was achieved with triethylamine in dimethylformamide at 25 °C for 12 h under nitrogen, and then the corresponding polydithiourethanes (PDTUs) were obtained with high yield and molecular weight without depending on the monomer structures, although the dithiol monomer of the low nucleophilicity was unsuitable for polyaddition in this system. The chemical and physical properties of the obtained PDTUs such as solvent solubility, glass transition temperature, thermal stability, transparency, refractive index, and tensile strength, were analyzed in detail by gel permeation chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared–attenuated total reflection, ultraviolet–visible, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, and tensile testing measurements. These results proved that PDTUs and their cast films having the aliphatic diisothiocyanate and dithiol moieties exhibited excellent chemical and physical properties compared to that of the aromatic PDTUs. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2018 , 56, 2255–2262