Kinetic studies on light-induced cationic ring-opening reactions on 2,3-epoxypropyl phenyl ether

Light-induced cationic ring-opening reactions of 2,3-epoxypropyl phenyl ether (phenyl glycidyl ether, PGE) in acetone, methanol and bulk were studied. Cations are produced by electron transfer from excited sensitizers (anthracene, An; 9,10-phenanthrenequinone, PQ; benzophenone, BP) or from photolytically cleaved sensitizer (benzoin isoproyl ether, BIPE) to diphenyliodonium hexafluorophosphate. With excess of acetone and methanol, addition reactions take place resulting in 2,2-dimethyl-4-phenoxymethyl-1,3-dioxolane and 1-methoxy-3-phenoxy propan-2-ol as main products. The efficiency of the sensitizers taken from the quantum yields of PGE conversion, follows the order An ? BIPE > PQ > BP in acetone and An ～ BP > BIPE ? PQ in methanol. Unlike bulk polymerization, in these addition reactions no steady-state concentration of cations exists and the reaction accelerates with time. When alcohol is added in only small proportions, the initial addition reactions goes over into a linear oligomerization. The relatively higher basicity of methanol over PGE influences the nature of the active center, and the course of reaction depends on methanol concentration. Kinetic expressions, which account for all possible types of active centers, have been derived to express the rate of PGE reactions in methanol.