Method for the manufacture of cyclododecasulfur

1. A method for the manufacture of cyclododecasulfur, comprising reacting a metallasulfur derivative with an oxidizing agent in a reaction zone to form a cyclododecasulfur-containing reaction mixture containing cyclododecasulfur, wherein the metallasulfur derivative comprises (PMDETA)Zn(S 4 ).

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the oxidizing agent is characterized by the formula:

X-X′

wherein X and X′ are the same or different and are selected from the group consisting of halogens and pseudohalogens.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the oxidizing agent comprises one or more of SO 2 Cl 2 and SO 2 Br 2 .

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the oxidizing agent comprises one or more of O 2 , H 2 O 2 , an alkyl peroxide, and an acyl peroxide.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stoichiometric ratio of the oxidizing agent to the metallasulfur derivative is less than one equivalent of the oxidizing agent present for every two M-S bonds in the metallasulfur derivative.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein X and X′ are one or more of chlorine and bromine.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of reacting elemental sulfur with a sulfur templating agent to form the metallasulfur derivative prior to the step of reacting the metallasulfur derivative with the oxidizing agent.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the reacting the elemental sulfur with a sulfur templating agent to form the metallasulfur derivative is carried out in the presence of water.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of isolating the cyclododecasulfur from the cyclododecasulfur-containing reaction mixture.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of isolating the cyclododecasulfur from the cyclododecasulfur-containing reaction mixture comprises one or more steps chosen from dissolving, heat treating, drying, acid treating, solvent washing, crystallizing, and sedimentation.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of isolating the cyclododecasulfur comprises treating the cyclododecasulfur with a solvent for the cyclododecasulfur to form a dissolution liquor.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising removing metal and metal-containing compounds from the cyclododecasulfur by sedimentation of the metal and the metal-containing compounds.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising isolating cyclododecasulfur by heating a cyclododecasulfur-containing mixture in the presence of a solvent to decompose and dissolve in the solvent impurities that are present.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising isolating cyclododecasulfur by treating a cyclododecasulfur-containing mixture with an acid to remove any metal or metal-containing compounds that are present.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising crystallizing cyclododecasulfur from the dissolution liquor.