Thiol-divinylbenzene: A thiol-ene system with high storage stability

Based on a number of advantages, thiol-ene polymerization is of great significance in photopolymerization, especially in emerging industries such as biomedical materials and optoelectronic materials. However, the research is limited by its poor storage stability. Meanwhile the spontaneous reaction mechanism of thiol-ene is unclear. In this study, ene with different structures were explored to determine the storage stability and the mechanism of spontaneous reaction, it was found that structure of ene led to different effects on storage stability. Thiol-divinylbenzene (DVB) was found to be stable both at normal and high temperatures, which was due to the moderate electron cloud density and conjugated structure. Besides, the Spontaneous reaction mechanism of thiol-DVB was explored mainly as free radical-initiated thiol-ene reaction. It is worth mentioning that in addition to good storage stability, thiol-DVB also has excellent photopolymerization efficiency and a higher sulfur content in the network compared to the thiol-acrylate system. It is showed the significant potential and value of the thiol-DVB system for applications.