Synthesis of One‐Component Type II Visible‐Light‐Absorbing Chalcones Containing Fused Aromatic Rings and Investigation of Free Radical Photopolymerization Properties

Abstract

This paper presents four one‐component Type II visible‐light‐absorbing chalcones (CY10‐13) that containing various fused aromatic rings as its π‐conjugated moiety, that is a 2‐naphthalene moiety for CY10, 1‐naphthalene for CY11, benzofuran for CY12 and benzothiophene for CY13. The absorption region changed significantly when introducing various fused aromatic rings. However, they all exhibited good absorption properties ranging from 300 to 450 nm that could be well‐matched under UV, 365 nm and 405 nm light irradiations. Furthermore, the structure–reactivity relationship was also studied through thermal, photochemical, electrochemical and computation properties. Finally, all the chalcones demonstrated photoinitiating ability without additive additional hydrogen donor in their systems. Both of the CY11 and CY12 based photoinitiating formulations initiated sufficiently upon UV and LED@405 nm light exposures. Furthermore, triphenylamine‐substituted chalcone analogous (CY8) was added for comparison. Although CY10‐13 compounds had lower light harvesting regions than CY8, some of those new chalcones exhibited better photoreactivity. Thus, a chalcone containing fused aromatic ring featuring straightforward synthesis as well as versatile absorption region and photoinitiating performance, has great potential in photopolymerization applications.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved