Sulfur vulcanization a reaction with low levels of unsaturated organic linkers (e.g. 1,3‐diisopropenylbenzene). This process is called inverse vulcanisation and produces polymers where sulfur is the main component. It is not currently of commercial importance but had been investigated as a means of producing polymers for lithium–sulfur batterys and for creating water filters with a high affinity for mercury. The curing of rubber has been carried out since prehistoric times. The name of the first major civilization in Guatemala and Mexico, the Olmec, means 'rubber people' in the Aztec language. Ancient Mesoamericans, spanning from ancient Olmecs to Aztecs, extracted latex from "Castilla
Union Sulphur Company land. He assumed that the sulfur deposits extended laterally underneath his property, and he planned to extract the sulfur with a new method. He would insert three pipes down into the sulfur. Super-heated water would be pumped down one pipe to melt the sulfur, and compressed air would be pumped down another pipe. The increased pressure from the compressed air would then force the molten sulfur up through the empty third pipe. Upon drilling on his property, however, Frasch discovered that the sulfur was only located beneath the American Sulphur Company property. The American Sulfur Company was not a fly-by-night