Lawsone Derivatives as Efficient Photopolymerizable Initiators for Free-Radical, Cationic Photopolymerizations, and Thiol—Ene Reactions

Two new photopolymerizable vinyl (2-(allyloxy) 1,4-naphthoquinone, HNQA) and epoxy (2-(oxiran-2yl methoxy) 1,4-naphthoquinone, HNQE) photoinitiators derived from lawsone were designed in this paper. These new photoinitiators can be used as one-component photoinitiating systems for the free-radical photopolymerization of acrylate bio-based monomer without the addition of any co-initiators. As highlighted by the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spin-trapping results, the formation of carbon-centered radicals from an intermolecular H abstraction reaction was evidenced and can act as initiating species. Interestingly, the introduction of iodonium salt (Iod) used as a co-initiator has led to (1) the cationic photopolymerization of epoxy monomer with high final conversions and (2) an increase of the rates of free-radical polymerization of the acrylate bio-based monomer; we also demonstrated the concomitant thiol–ene reaction and cationic photopolymerizations of a limonene 1,2 epoxide/thiol blend mixture with the HNQA/Iod photoinitiating system.