Water-compatible dendritic macrophotoinitiator containing thioxanthone

Water-compatible dendritic macrophotoinitiaors containing thioxanthone (TX), DAB-16-TX and DAB-64-TX, were synthesized by introducing a certain amount of TX moieties into the periphery of poly(propylene imine) (PPI). These photoinitiators have the similar UV–vis absorption to thioxanthone. Compared with DAB-16-TX, the fluorescence emission and the lifetime of the excited triplet state for TX in DAB-64-TX decreased, and polymerization rate of acrylamide (AAM) initiated by DAB-64-TX increased. With the increase of water content in the mixed solvent, the fluorescence emission intensity and the lifetime of the triplet state for TX of DAB-64-TX decreased, and the polymerization rate of AAM initiated by DAB-64-TX increased.