A New Strategy for the Photopolymerization of Heterocyclic and Polar Monomers

This study examines the photopolymerization behaviors of polar and heterocyclic-based monomers in the presence of bulky salts.  We have observed greatly improved monomer conversion compared to photopolymerization of these monomers in the absence of the salt.  Polymers were analyzed via IR spectroscopy to determine the degrees of polymerization, DSC to determine glass transition temperatures, scanning electron microscopy to observe surface feature and dynamic light scattering (DLS) to determine MW.  We will discuss the dependence of salt concentration on the magnitude of the improvements and potential mechanisms for this behavior.