###### Abstract  
Recently, new methods have been developed for the utilization of elemental sulfur as a feedstock for novel polymeric materials. One promising method is the inverse vulcanization, which is used to prepare polymeric structures derived from sulfur and divinyl comonomers. However, the mechanical and electrical properties of the products are virtually unexplored. Hence, in the present study, we synthesized a 200 g scale of amorphous, hydrophobic as well as translucent, hyperbranched polymeric sulfur networks that provide a high thermal resistance (>220 \({}^{\circ}\)C). The polymeric material properties of these sulfur copolymers can be controlled significantly by varying the monomers as well as the feed content. The investigated comonomers are divinylbenzene (DVB) and 1,3-disopropenylbenzene (DIB). Plastomers with low elastic content and high shape retention containing 12.5%-30% DVB as well as low viscose waxy plastomers with a high flow behavior containing a high DVB content of 30%-35% were obtained. Copolymers with 15%-30% DIB act, on the one hand, as thermoplastics and, on the other hand, as vitreous thermosets with a DIB of 30%-35%. Results of the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), the dynamic scanning calorimetry (DSC) and mechanical characterization, such as stress-strain experiments and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, are discussed with the outcome that they support the assumption of a polymeric cross-linked network structure in the form of hyper-branched polymers. s +
Footnote †: This work is dedicated to Prof. Dr. [PERSON]. On the occasion of his 65 th birthday,  
the authors wish to thank [PERSON] for his excellent support and inspiration through his enriching ideas. Footnote †: This work is dedicated to Prof. Dr. [PERSON]. On the occasion of his 65 th birthday,  
the authors wish to thank [PERSON] for his excellent support and inspiration through his enriching ideas. Sulfur occurs naturally in its thermodynamically most stable modification: orthorhombic sulfur S\(\alpha\) which forms crown-shaped S\({}_{8}\) rings. Small amounts of S\({}_{7}\)-rings and tiny amounts of other rings also occur. Overall, there are 14 well-known sulfur allotropes whose formation is temperature-dependent [3]. The allotrope polymeric sulfur occupies a special position with its diradical chain-character. The formation takes place by a temperature-initiated ring-opening reaction with subsequent addition of diradical chains (polymerization) [4]. Polymeric sulfur is formed above its floor temperature of 159 \({}^{\circ}\)C [5]. Upon further heating, sulfur readily converts to a metastable, one-dimensional elastomer. When exceeding 200 \({}^{\circ}\)C, the amount of polymeric species increases but the chain length is reduced [3]. After cooling down to room temperature, the polymeric sulfur and other rings (cyclo-S\({}_{n}\)) degrade back to the cyclic S\({}_{8}\) form (depolymerization) [6; 7]. Recently, it was described that sulfur serves as an inexpensive and promising new feedstock for the synthesis of novel polymeric materials. Upon copolymerization with vinyl group containing monomers, the polymeric sulfur is stabilized via a cross-linked structure. Polymeric materials formed by so-called \"inverse vulcanization\" possess magnificent thermomechanical and electrochemical properties [8]. Because of their high sulfur content, the sulfur comonomers are used as electroactive cathode materials in Li-S batteries (1005 mA\(\cdot\)h\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\) at 100 cycles [9]). Suitable comonomers for the Li-S battery technology are 1,3-diisopropylbenzene [8; 9; 10], divinylbenzene [11; 12], styrene (STY) [13], 1,4-diphenylbutadiyne [14], etc. Oleylamine-based sulfur copolymers have been investigated regarding their usage as chalcogenide-semiconductor nanocrystals in the area of nanomaterial synthesis [15; 16]. In addition, the use of the nanoparticles (NP) PbS and Au has been extended by [PERSON] et al. to InP/ZnS quantum dots, Fe\({}_{3}\)O\({}_{4}\) and CoO.