Metal-Free Multicomponent Upcycling of Polybutadiene to Sulfonamide-Functionalized Materials

We report a catalyst-free, one-pot method for the upcycling of liquid polybutadiene that enables simultaneous backbone editing and introduction of sulfonamide and bromine functionalities under mild conditions. This sustainable alternative to metal-catalyzed approaches, such as selenium-based methods, offers access to functional polymers with tunable thermal and interfacial properties. The introduced bromine groups enable further orthogonal modifications, exemplified by efficient azidation. Remarkably, the resulting materials display previously unreported non-conventional luminescence behavior, expanding the functional scope of upcycled commodity polymers and opening pathways toward applications in sensing, coatings, and bioimaging.