THE PHOTOLYSIS OF METAL-CARBONYL POLYMERS IN SOLUTIONS AND POLYMER-FILMS

The photochemical behaviour of VI B group metal carbonyl complexes of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and iron tricarbonyl complexes of poly(styrene -butadiene) (SBS) block-copolymer have been investigated in this study in dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO) and/or in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMFA) s olutions as well as in polymer films. In the case of metal carbonyl co mplexes with polyacrylonitrile the primary photochemical reactions hav e been shown to be the dissociation of penta- and tetracarbonyl comple xes which result in the removal of one nitrile ligand followed by an e xchange between the nitrile groups and the solvent molecules. The remo val of CO has been shown to be the most probable photochemical reactio n in films of these polymers. In the case of the iron tricarbonyl comp lex of SBS, laser photolysis leads to the fast isomerization of the co mplex followed by the replacement of the olefin groups of the polymer by CO.