THE SYNTHESIS AND CATIONIC PHOTOPOLYMERIZATION OF NOVEL MONOMERS

A series of aromatic monomers bearing two, three, four, and six cation ically polymerizable vinyl, isopropenyl, or propenyl functional groups were prepared using readily available starting materials and characte rized. The reactivity of the resulting monomers in photoinitiated cati onic polymerization was studied using differential scanning photocalor imetry. The results of mechanistic investigations suggest that the pol ymerizations involve a stepwise condensation of the monomers followed by an intramolecular ring closure to form indane repeating units along the backbone of the polymer chains.