E. Andrzejewska et al., Photoreduction of benzophenone by trithianes as the initiation step in radical polymerization, NUKLEONIKA, 45(1), 2000, pp. 83-91
This work was presented at the Workshop on Reactive Intermediates in Sulfur
Chemistry (Poznan, 1998). It is a summary of earlier investigations on the
role of cyclic sulfides (1,3,5-trithiane derivatives) in accelerating the
initiation of polymerization induced by benzophenone (BP). The primary phot
ochemical reactions between BP and trithianes were followed by nanosecond l
aser flash photolysis. Triplet-quenching rate constants and quantum yields
for electron-transfer products and ketyl-radical formation were measured. P
hotoinduced polymerizations with model monomers initiated by BP/trithiane c
ouples were followed by isothermal differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).
The kinetics of these polymerizations were compared with the photochemical
information on the quenching of excited BP by the trithianes. The polymeri
zation efficiency using the various coinitiators did not follow the efficie
ncy of photo-induced formation of the initiating radicals. The reasons for
this lack of correlation were discussed in terms of the various factors tha
t influence the polymerization aside from the efficiency of radical formati
on.