Polyanthra[1,9,8-b,c,d,e][4,10,5-b,c,d,e]bis-[1,6,6a(6a-S)trithia]pental ene (PABTP) was prepared and investigated as cathode active material for lithium secondary batteries. The organic disulfide polymer was prepared by the direct sulfurization of anthracene and the oxidative coupling polymerization of the sulfide anthracene, characterized by FT-IR, Raman, elemental analysis, XPS and XRD. The polymer was used as cathode active material and the lithium secondary batteries were assembled and tested. The polymer had high specific capacity up to 1500 mAh g(-1), which remained the value of 800 mAh g(-1) at the 77th cycle, and kept high charge-discharge efficiency of 85% in the whole test. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.