Base-assisted elemental sulfur-based multicomponent polymerizations to synthesize asymmetric polythioureas

from polluted water, and aromatic polythioureas generally showed better performance compared with semi-aromatic and aliphatic polythioureas. This work has hence provided a general synthetic approach for various aliphatic, aromatic, and semi-aromatic polythioureas with symmetric or asymmetric thiourea structures. The dynamic covalent bond nature of thioureas endowed these polymer materials with controllable degradation, making them sustainable functional polymer materials.