Vinyl photopolymerizing

Chemical anq>lificatioii, the process by which a cascade of chemical reactions are triggered by absorption of a photon, represents a landmark concept in relied photochemistry. Ch cal amplification leads to the efiScient use of the available light and, therefore, enables imaging systems with high sensitivity. Photopolymerization and photoresists are two commercially in rtant applications of this concept In conventional vinyl photopolymerization,... 

Photopolymerization reactions of monolayers have become of interest (note Chapter XV). Lando and co-workers have studied the UV polymerization of 16-heptadecenoic acid [311] and vinyl stearate [312] monolayers. Particularly interesting is the UV polymerization of long-chain diacetylenes. As illustrated in Fig. IV-30, a zipperlike process can occur if the molecular orientation in the film is just right (e.g., polymerization does not occur readily in the neat liquid) (see Refs. 313-315). 

Olefin isomerization can be catalyzed by a number of catalysts such as molybdenum hexacarbonyl [13939-06-5] Mo(CO)g. This compound has also been found to catalyze the photopolymerization of vinyl monomers, the cyclization of olefins, the epoxidation of alkenes and peroxo species, the conversion of isocyanates to carbodiimides, etc. Rhodium carbonylhydrotris(triphenylphosphine) [17185-29-4] RhH(CO)(P(CgH )2)3, is a multifunctional catalyst which accelerates the isomerization and hydroformylation of alkenes. 

Photosensitized Reactions for Polymers. The economic and technical features for photocross-linking, photosolubilizafion, and photopolymerization reactions have been reviewed (55). The widely used poly(vinyl ciunamates) (PVCN) photocross-link by a photodimerization reaction. 

The polymers initiated by BP amines were found to contain about one amino end group per molecular chain. It is reasonable to consider that the combination of BP and such polymers will initiate further polymerization of vinyl monomers. We investigated the photopolymerization of MMA with BP-PMMA bearing an anilino end group as the initiation system and found an increase of the molecular weight from GPC and viscometrical measurement [91]. This system can also initiate the photopolymerization of AN to form a block copolymer, which was characterized by GPC, elemental analysis, and IR spectra. The mechanism proposed is as follows ... 

Polymers in Schemes 12 and 13 were the first examples of the preparation of pyridinium and iminopyridinium ylide polymers. One of the more recent contributions of Kondo and his colleagues [16] deals with the sensitization effect of l-ethoxycarbonyliminopyridinium ylide (IPYY) (Scheme 14) on the photopolymerization of vinyl monomers. Only acrylic monomers such as MMA and methyl acrylate (MA) were photoinitiated by IPYY, while vinylacetate (VA), acrylonitrile (AN), and styrene were unaffected by the initiator used. A free radical mechanism was confirmed by a kinetic study. The complex of IPYY and MMA was defined as an exciplex that served as a precursor of the initiating radical. This ylide is unique in being stabilized by the participation of a... 

Independent estimates of these quantities can be obtained from the temperature coefficients of photopolymerization. If the rate of photoinitiation is assumed to be independent of the temperature, the increase in rate must be due entirely to the change in kp/k] (see Eq. 13), hence the slope of the plot of log Rp against 1/T for the photochemical polymerization should yield Ep — Et/2. Burnett reported the value 5.5 kcal./mole for styrene, and Burnett and Melville found 4.4 kcal./mole for vinyl acetate, in satisfactory agreement with the values given above. 

Photocrosslinking. The second class of photopolymer chemistry that is used in some commercial products is based on the reaction of unsaturated moieties attached to an organic polymer. These photopolymer materials include the [2+2] cycloaddition of the ethylenic groups in poly(vinyl cinnamate) polymers and in the newer styryl pyridinium (10) and thiazolium (77) derivatives of poly(vinyl alcohol). The main advantage of this chemistry is that, unlike free-radical photopolymerization, they are insensitive to the presence of oxygen. This photopolymer mechanism is principally used in applications employing a washout development process (e.g. resists). 

The objective of the present work was to determine the influence of the light intensity on the polymerization kinetics and on the temperature profile of acrylate and vinyl ether monomers exposed to UV radiation as thin films, as well as the effect of the sample initial temperature on the polymerization rate and final degree of cure. For this purpose, a new method has been developed, based on real-time infrared (RTIR) spectroscopy 14, which permits to monitor in-situ the temperature of thin films undergoing high-speed photopolymerization, without introducing any additive in the UV-curable formulation 15. This technique proved particularly well suited to addressing the issue of thermal runaway which was recently considered to occur in laser-induced polymerization of divinyl ethers 13>16. 

Cationic photopolymerizations of epoxides and vinyl ethers offer tremendous potential in the area of high-speed, solvent-free curing of films and coatings. The polymers formed exhibit excellent clarity, adhesion, abrasion, and chemical... 

The photopolymerization of mixtures of maleimides and vinyl ethers is shown to be an efficient, rapid process in the absence of external photo initiators. Polymerization proceeds both in the presence and absence of oxygen. Films produced by the photopolymerization of maleimide/vinyl ether systems exhibit little absorbance at wavelengths greater than 300 nm. The thermal stability of these films are also excellent. 

Finally, we should indicate that we have not ruled out the possibility that there is a contribution to initiating photopolymerization in maleimide/vinyl ether systems from an exciplex type complex between an excited state maleimide and ground state vinyl ether. A biradical formed from such a complex might initiate free radical polymerization in lieu of cyclization to form a 2 + 2 adduct. However, we note that at present we have no evidence for such a reactive exciplex. 

In order for maleimide/vinyl ether photoinitiator free photopolymerization to be useful, it is important that the cured films have good thermal/UV stability. Since there are no small molecule photoinitiators added to the uncured mixture initially, there is no residual small molecule photo initiator present in the final crosslinked film. This accounts for the enhanced UV stability we have observed for cured maleimide/vinyl ether films. In addition, TGA thermograms of photocured films of the MPBM/CHVE mixture (Figure 8) exhibit excellent thermal stability, with decomposition occurring at higher temperatures than for a simple UV cured HDDA film with 3 weight percent DMAP photoinitiator. (Such thermal stability would be... 

Photopolymerizations of Vinyl Ester Glass Fiber Composites... 

Figure 5. Reaction temperature as a function of time for nearly adiabatic photopolymerizations of vinyl esters with various fiber loadings.

A number of photopolymer printing plates are already known. Their basic structures are to combine one of the general purpose resins such as cellulose (1), polyamide (2J, polyester, poly urethane (3j, polyvinyl alcohol (4), synthetic rubber (5) and the like with photopolymerizing vinyl monomer, photopolymerization initiator and so on. Any one of the plates of such structures can be used as a press plate, but they can not be used as an original plate for duplicate plate owing to their insufficient hardness, toughness and the similar negative properties. 

Oster and Yang (1968) surveyed the subject of photopolymerization of vinyl monomers, and pointed out that one can use auramine O and similar... 

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