Carbazole-based compounds as photoinitiators for free radical and cationic polymerization upon near visible light illumination.

Six new carbazole based compounds (Ca1-Ca6) are synthesized and proposed as high performance photoinitiators with iodonium salt (iod) and/or an amine (EDB) for both the free radical polymerization (FRP) of acrylates and the cationic polymerization (CP) of epoxides upon near UV and visible light exposure using light emitting diodes (LEDs) @385 nm and @405 nm. Excellent polymerization initiating abilities are found and high final reactive function conversions are acquired. A full picture of the involved photochemical mechanisms is given.