Organic-sulfur-zinc hybrid materials were prepared via polycondensation of Zn(OAc)2 and trithiols bearing various alkyl groups. A soluble nanoparticle could be obtained by the polycondensation using a trithiol bearing octadecyl moieties. The good dispersing ability as nano-scaled particles was confirmed by dynamic light scattering and atomic force microscopy analyses. This hybrid nanoparticle was miscible with poly(methyl methacrylate) and served as a refractive additive to increase refractive indexes. The calculated refractive index value for the nanoparticle was 1.58.

Soluble organic-sulfur-zinc hybrid polymers were prepared via a one-pot reaction consisting of ring-opening addition and subsequent polycondensation. The first reaction is the nucleophilic ring-opening addition of 2-ethylhexylamine to multifunctional cyclic dithiocarbonates giving multiple thiols in situ. The sequential polycondensation of the in situ generated thiols with Zn(OAc)2 gave the target hybrid polymers. This one-pot method enabled the use of a shorter amine than the previous polycondensation of Zn(OAc)2 and purified thiols, which required octadecylamine to obtain a soluble product. The obtained hybrid polymers may be cast as composite films with polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate). Owing to the shorter alkyl chain, the calculated nD values of the products (1.60 or 1.61) are higher than that of the previous product bearing octadecyl chains (1.53).