A dual-functional α-diketone-based disulfide monomer for visible LED photopolymerization: Mitigating volumetric shrinkage and triggering polymerization

Abstract

A α-diketone-based disulfide monomer (OHS), which serves the function of both volumetric shrinkage decreases and photopolymerization initiation under the irradiation of 405 light-emitting diode (LED) was designed and synthesized. The photochemical and photoinitiating performances were study by ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometer, electron spin resonance spin trapping (ESR-ST) experiments and real-time infrared spectrometer (FTIR). Despite OHS exhibits weak absorption at approximately 405 nm, OHS can effectively produce aromatic sulfur radicals to induce photopolymerization of itself and the bisphenol A glycerolate dimethacrylate (Bis-GMA)/triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) photopolymerizable system under 405 nm LED exposure. With increasing OHS addition, the final double bond conversion and maximum polymerization rate of the Bis-GMA/TEGDMA system improved, reaching up to 86.0% and 2.33% s-1, respectively. Importantly, OHS significantly reduces the volumetric shrinkage ratio of the Bis-GMA/TEGDMA photopolymerizable system, with the volumetric shrinkage ratio (5.01%) of the system containing 5% OHS declining by almost 50% compared to that (8.51%) of the control system without OHS. This reduction is attributed to reversible characteristic of the disulphide bonds and intermolecular hydrogen bondings. Furthermore, OHS has little influence on the gelation ratio, thermostability, and frictional resistance of the cured film.