A study of the photopolymerization kinetics of methyl methacrylate using novel benzophenone initiators

摘要

A series of novel bifunctional photoinitiators with benzophenone moieties were synthesized. Characterization of these molecules was performed using IR, UV, ~1H NMR, ~(13)C NMR and mass spectroscopy. Photopolymerizationof methyl methacrylate, a model acrylate-type monomer, was carried out with the bifunctional benzophenone molecules functioning as the photoinitiator and triethylamine as the co-initiator. The progress of the polymerization was followed by dilatometry. The resulting plots of monomer conversion with time were used to evaluate the initial rates of polymerization. The relative enhancement/lowering of the rates of polymerization, with respect to-benzophenone as the model photoinitiator, are interpreted in terms of the structure, and the photophysics of the initiator evaluated by nanosecond laser flash photolysis.