In Silico Design of Nitrocoumarins as Near-UV Photoinitiators: Toward Interesting Opportunities in Composites and 3D Printing Technologies

In this research, 31 nitrocoumarins (including 27 structures never reported in the literature) were designed through molecular orbital calculations and synthesized as high-performance near-UV–visible light photoinitiators of polymerization for a better understanding of their structure/reactivity/efficiency relationship. Based on their photoinitiating abilities examined during the free-radical polymerization (FRP) of acrylates, different coumarins examined in this work can be classified into three main categories: (1) very reactive ones (Coum6,7,11,12&26); (2) moderately reactive nitrocoumarins (Coum1,2,16,20,21,23,25,27&28); and (3) nitrocoumarins of low reactivity (Coum3,4,5,8,9,10,13,14,15,17,18,19,22,24,29,30&31). Different techniques were used in order to understand their photoinitiating abilities as well as the associated chemical mechanisms. The real-time Fourier transform infrared technique has been used to follow the polymerization profiles (reactive function conversion (FCs) vs irradiation time). Different two- and three-component photoinitiating systems based on nitrocoumarin/iodonium salt (or N-phenylglycine (NPG) or ethyl 4-(dimethylamino)­benzoate) and nitrocoumarin/iodonium salt/NPG were examined for the FRP of acrylates or/and the cationic polymerization of epoxides upon irradiation with a light-emitting diode at 405 nm as an unharmed and inexpensive irradiation source. Moreover, cyclic voltammetry, fluorescence spectroscopy, UV–visible spectroscopy, and electron spin resonance techniques were also used to provide a full picture of the involved chemical mechanisms. Excellent polymerization performances (i.e., high final reactive FCs and also great rates of polymerization (R p)) were obtained using these derivatives. Some applications in three-dimensional printing and composite synthesis are reported to highlight the interest of the proposed structures in modern technologies.