Initiating species

The general formula for the initiator species can be written H B, where the degree of separation or ion pairing depends on the polarity of the medium and the possibility of specific solvation interactions. If we represent the equilibrium constant for the reactions in (6.DD) and (6.EE) by K, the initiator concentration can be written as... 

Dry-Film Resists Based on Radical Photopolymerization. Photoinitiated polymerization (PIP) is widely practiced ia bulk systems, but special measures must be taken to apply the chemistry ia Hthographic appHcations. The attractive aspect of PIP is that each initiator species produced by photolysis launches a cascade of chemical events, effectively forming multiple chemical bonds for each photon absorbed. The gain that results constitutes a form of "chemical amplification" analogous to that observed ia silver hahde photography, and illustrates a path for achieving very high photosensitivities. 

Water-soluble peroxide salts, such as ammonium or sodium persulfate, are the usual initiators. The initiating species is the sulfate radical anion generated from either the thermal or redox cleavage of the persulfate anion. The thermal dissociation of the persulfate anion, which is a first-order process at constant temperature (106), can be greatly accelerated by the addition of certain reducing agents or small amounts of polyvalent metal salts, or both (87). By using redox initiator systems, rapid polymerizations are possible at much lower temperatures (25—60°C) than are practical with a thermally initiated system (75—90°C). 

In general, an appropriate initiator is a species which has approximately the same stmcture and reactivity as the propagating anionic species, ie, the piC of the conjugate acid of the propagating anion should correspond closely to the piC of the conjugate acid of the initiating species. If the initiator is too reactive, side reactions between the initiator and monomer can occur if the initiator is not reactive enough, then the initiation reaction may be slow or inefficient. 

Soluble analogues of these difunctional initiators have been prepared either by addition of small amounts of weakly basic additives such as triethylamine (73) or anisole (74) which have relatively minor effects on diene microstmcture (37). Another method to solubilize these initiators is to use a seeding technique, whereby small amounts of diene monomer are added to form a hydrocarbon-soluble, oligomeric dilithium-initiating species (69,75). 

Initiation. A Friedel-Craft acid (hydrochloric acid, water, phenol) is used as initiator together with a proton source ( co-initiator , BF3 or AICI3 are the most common). The mixture produces a catiogen which is the true initiating species. 

Through direct excitation of a monomeric or polymeric molecule or of a molecular complex (A) followed by a reaction producing an initiating species ... 

The rate of formation of the initiating species and, accordingly, the molecular weight distribution can be controlled by variation of the incident light intensity. 

Studies in the photoinitiation of polymerization by transition metal chelates probably stem from the original observations of Bamford and Ferrar [33]. These workers have shown that Mn(III) tris-(acety]acetonate) (Mn(a-cac)3) and Mn (III) tris-(l,l,l-trifluoroacetyl acetonate) (Mn(facac)3) can photosensitize the free radical polymerization of MMA and styrene (in bulk and in solution) when irradiated with light of A = 365 at 25°C and also abstract hydrogen atom from hydrocarbon solvents in the absence of monomer. The initiation of polymerization is not dependant on the nature of the monomer and the rate of photodecomposition of Mn(acac)3 exceeds the rate of initiation and the initiation species is the acac radical. The mechanism shown in Scheme (14) is proposed according to the kinetics and spectral observations ... 

The polymerization of MMA photoinitiated by al-koxo-oxo-bis(8-quinolyloxo) vanadium (V) complex [VOQ2 OR] has also been studied [38,39]. The alkyloxo radical ( OR) formed from the photodecomposition of the chelate (A = 365) nm at 25°C) was found to be the initiating species ... 

Triphenylsulfonium tetrafluoroborate [(C6Hs)3 S" BF4 ] is used instead of diphenyl iodonium chloride to give phenyl radical as the initiating species. Potassium [tris(oxalato) cobaltate) (III)] with diphenyl iodonium chloride also has been used as the photoinitiator of acryl-... 

Scheme (43)] have high activity and no other initiating species, which rise to homopolymers, are formed (i.e.. 

Photocuring of commercial unsaturated polyester-styrene mixture was effectively done in the presence of the VOL2CI photoinitiator complex. The chlorine atom produced by the scission of V—Cl bond in the VOL2CI complex is proven to be the initiating species for the photocuring process 168]. 

Meanwhile, it was found by Asai and colleagues [48] that tetraphenylphosphonium salts having such anions as Cl, Br , and Bp4 work as photoinitiators for radical polymerization. Based on the initiation effects of changing counteranions, they proposed that a one-electron transfer mechanism is reasonable in these initiation reactions. However, in the case of tetraphenylphosphonium tetrafluoroborate, it cannot be ruled out that direct homolysis of the p-phenyl bond gives the phenyl radical as the initiating species since BF4 is not an easily pho-tooxidizable anion [49]. Therefore, it was assumed that a similar photoexcitable moiety exists in both tetraphenyl phosphonium salts and triphenylphosphonium ylide, which can be written as the following resonance hybrid [17] (Scheme 21) ... 

In conjunction with Ag, CO , and acid, peroxydiphosphate forms an efficient redox system for polymerization of vinyl monomers. H2P208 is assumed to be an active species of peroxydiphosphate. The initiating species are OH and HP04 and the termination is considered to be exclusively by mutual method. The following mechanism has been proposed for the redox reaction [46]. 

The term initiator is used here in a somewhat different sense than is customarily used in the literature. It denotes the initiating species and not its generator e.g. a peroxide generates the radicals which in turn initiate polymerization. 

If the rate of addition to monomer is low, primary radical termination may achieve greater importance. For example, in photoinitiation by the benzoin ether 12 both a fast initiating species (13, high k) and a slow initiating species (14, low... 

Only a few diacvl peroxides see widespread use as initiators of polymerization. The reactions of the diaroyl peroxides (36, R=aryl) will be discussed in terms of the chemistry of BPO (Scheme 3.25). The rate of p-scission of thermally generated benzoyloxy radicals is slow relative to cage escape, consequently, both benzoyloxy and phenyl radicals are important as initiating species. In solution, the only significant cage process is reformation of BPO (ca 4% at 80 °C in isooctane) II"l only minute amounts of phenyl benzoate or biphenyl are formed within the cage. Therefore, in the presence of a reactive substrate (e.g. monomer), tire production of radicals can be almost quantitative (see 3.3.2.1.3). 

Persulfate (41) reacts with transition metal ions (e.g. Ag, Fe21, Ti31) according to Scheme 3.42. Various other reduetants have been described. These include halide ions, thiols (e.g. 2-mercaptoethanol, thioglycolic acid, cysteine, thiourea), bisulfite, thiosulfate, amines (triethanolamine, tetramethylethylenediamine, hydrazine hydrate), ascorbic acid, and solvated electrons (e.g. in radiolysis). The mechanisms and the initiating species produced have not been fully elucidated for... 

Various oligomers formed by Diels-Alder/ene reactions are observed.333 334 For S-MA11 polymerization Sato et ci//31 used spin trapping to identify the initialing species. On the other hand, in the case of S-AN copolymerization, Ihe... 

Simple alkyl radicals thus seem ideal as initiating species ... 

Alkoxy radicals are frequently encountered as initiating species in polymerizations and have been the subject of numerous laboratory studies. Most... 

Various other heteroatom-centered radicals have been generated as initiating species. These include silicon-, sulfur-, selenium- (see 3.4.3.1). nitrogen- and phosphorus-centered species (see 3.4.3.2). Kinetic data for reactions of these radicals with monomers is summarized in Table 3.10. 

Benzene may react by addition as shown in Scheme 6.12 (this pathway is also open to other aromatic solvents). The cyclohexadienyl radical is a poor initiating species and may terminate a second chain by hydrogen atom transfer. According to this process, benzene is a retarder rather than a transfer agent. 

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