Vinyl monomers bearing chromophore moieties and their polymers. III. Synthesis and photochemical behavior of acrylic monomers having phenothiazine moieties and their polymers

Four acrylic monomers bearing phenothiazine moieties, i.e., N-acrylyl-phenothiazine (APT), N-acrylyl-2-chlorophenothiazine (ACPT), N-acrylyl-2-acetylphenothiazine (AAPT), and 10-acrylyl-1-azaphenothiazine (AAzPT) were synthesized by dehydrohalogenation of the corresponding N-(β-chloropropionyl)-substituted phenothiazine derivatives with 1,8-diazabicyclo5.4.0]undec-5-ene (DBU). These monomers could easily be polymerized by initiation with AIBN. The emission fluorescence spectra of the monomers and their polymers were recorded, which showed that the polymers displayed much stronger fluorescence than their corresponding monomers at the same chromophore concentrations. This phenomenon, as termed as “structural self-quenching effect,” was commonly observed for acrylic monomers bearing chromophore moieties and ascribed to the coexistence of the electron-donating chromophore and the electron-accepting double bond in the same molecule. Because of the formation of exciplex, the monomer APT, as well as ACPT, AAPT, AAzPT, and their polymers, could initiate the photopolymerization of AN. The charge transfer phenomenon between P(APT), P(ACPT), and C₆₀ was also explored. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.