| Abstract: | Vinylether was used as a cationically polymerizable moiety and incorporated into sidechain of polymers as copolymers of vinyloxyethyl methacrylate (VEM) and styrene (St). Photoirradiation of the copolymers containing a small amount of benzyl(4-hydroxyphenyl) methylsulfonium salt (BSS) resulted in a high crosslinking density as evidenced by a low degree of swelling, which is ascribed to the high reactivity of the vinyloxy moieties. The sensitivity of this photoreaction is significantly high because of a large kinetic chain length of the cationic polymerization of vinylethers, while copolymers of glycidyl methacrylate and St showed crosslinking to much less extent when irradiated under the same condition. The ability of other sulfonium salts, (4-hydroxyphenyl) methyl(4-nitrobenzyl) sulfonium salt and (4-hydroxyphenyl) methyl(1-naphthylmethyl)sulfonium salt, to induce photocrosslinking was also examined. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
