Abstract
Photopolymerization is a growing process allowing preparing polymer materials, notably in the form of films or coatings. Nevertheless, it is mostly based on a radical polymerization mechanism that prevents obtaining fully biodegradable materials. The goal of this PhD work was thus to develop the photopolymerization of cyclic esters and carbonates by using two families of photobase generators (PBGs). First, already described PBGs, releasing cyclic amidine and guanidine-type superbases, were effectively employed to carry out the photopolymerization of L-LA and TMC in solution. Then, taking previous PBGs as models, we developed new PBGs able to release N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) under UV irradiation. The release of NHCs from these “photolatent NHCs” was proven both by 1H NMR and by the formation of NHC.CS2 adducts. These PBGs also proved to be active for the ROP of L-LA and TMC in solution, but to a lesser extent than previous photobases. Indeed, slower kinetics of polymerization were observed, which was attributed to the presence of CO2 in the reaction medium (CO2 released by photodegradation of the PBG) that leads to the formation of NHC.CO2 adduct (inactive for ROP). Thus, the most efficient photobase (releasing TBD) was employed to carry out the bulk photopolymerizations of liquid cyclic esters (ε-CL, δ-VL and even an innovative L-LA / TMC mixture). Finally, polymer networks have been formed by incorporating a bifunctional monomer into the reaction medium, allowing the preparation “on demand” (temporal control) of potentially fully biodegradable materials in a one-pot process.