The influence of the photophysics of 2-substituted thioxanthones on their activity as photoinitiators

The polymerization of methyl methacrylate photoinitiated by thioxanthones (TXs) substituted in the position 2 of the chromophore ring in the presence of 2-(N,N-diethylamino)ethanol has been investigated. The photoinitiation efficiency of these systems is highly dependent on the structure of the 2-substituent. At high amine concentrations, compounds with electron-withdrawing substituents appear as more efficient photoinitiators. The photophysics of the ketones was studied in the polymerization medium. These data show that the singlet excited state of TXs is deactivated by the amine with a rate constant near the diffusional control limit. The triplet rate constants for quenching by the amine and the monomer are highly dependent on the ketone structure. Compounds with electron-withdrawing substituents in the position 2 are more reactive. These studies allow to simulate the dependence of the photoinitiation efficiency with the amine concentration and indicate that the active radicals are produced by the interaction of the ketone triplet with the amine.