Photoinitiated cationic cross-linking of 4-methylene-2-phenyl-1,3-dioxolane with 2,2′-(1,4-phenylene)bis(4-methylene-1,3-dioxolane)

A difunctional dioxolane 2,2′-(1,4-phenylene)bis(4-methylene-1,3-dioxolane) (3) crosslinker was synthesized by two-step synthesis. The difunctional dioxolane was copolymerized with the monofunctional analog 4-methylene-2-phenyl-1,3-dioxolane (1) by photo-initiated cationic copolymerization with either a sulfonium or an iodonium salt as the photoinitiator. Polymers with T_gs, substantially higher than the homopolymer, were obtained from the cationic ring-opening polymerization of 1. Copolymerization of 1 and 3 with a cyclic vinyl ether afforded a crosslinked material with a T_g of 59 °C, demonstrating the versatility of 3.