Photochemistry of nonconjugated bichromophoric systems: Photoreductive polyrecombination of diaryl ketones

The irradiation of nonconjugated bichromophoric systems, diaryl ketones, with ultraviolet light in the presence of hydrogen donors, such as isopropanol or bisbenzhydrol, yields high polymers. Two series of arylketones were investigated, namely bisbenzophenones and bisketotriazoles. The cage reaction, which arises from the cross combination between the acetone ketyl and bisbenzophenone ketyl radicals, was estimated to be very small but may constitute a chain termination reaction in the photopolymerization in isopropanol. The photopolymerization of bisdiketone–dihydrol systems was found to yield polymers with much higher molecular weights than those obtained from the photopolymerization of bisdiketone–isopropanol systems. The photolysis of some binary mixtures of aromatic diketones in the presence of isopropanol yielded statistical copolypinacols. In some favorable cases, the NMR spectrum of the copolymer obtained showed three distinct linkages and from the infrared spectrum intensities the copolymers composition and the number average length of the sequences may be determined.