Phenacyl Bromide as a Single-Component Photoinitiator: Photoinduced Step-Growth Polymerization of N-Methylpyrrole and N-Methylindole

The synthesis of step-growth polymers by photoinduced methods is a challenging issue in synthetic chemistry. Here, we report a single component near UV responsive photopolymerization system for step-growth polymerization of N-methylpyrrole (MPyr) and N-methylindole (MIn) by using phenacyl bromide (PAB). The obtained high molecular weight conjugated polymers were characterized by spectral and chromatographic methods. Detailed laser flash photolysis and spectroscopic studies revealed that polymerization proceeds by successive photoinduced cleavage of PAB followed by electron transfer, proton release and coupling processes. After photolysis, chain growth continues also in daylight or dark by acidic oxidation. The structural features of the polymers were investigated. PAB single component photoinitiator enables an efficient, rapid, room temperature step-growth polymerization process of MPyr and MIn that can be applied to other conjugated monomers.