Photopolymerization of Methyl Methacrylate with p-X-$C_{6}H_{4}SiH_{3}$ (X = F, $CH_3$, $OCH_3$)

The bulk photopolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) with para-substituted phenylsilanes such as F-C6H4SiH3 (1), H3C-C6H4SiH3 (2), and H3CO-C6H4SiH3 (3) was performed to produce poly(MMA)s containing the respective silyl moiety as an end group. For all the hydrosilanes, the polymerization yields and the polymer molecular weights decreased, whereas the TGA residue yields and the relative intensities of Si-H IR stretching bands increased as the relative silane concentration over MMA increased. The polymerization yields and polymer molecular weights of MMA with 1-3 increased in the order of 3 < 1 < 2. These hydrosilanes influence significantly upon the photopolymerization of MMA as both chain-initiation and chain-transfer agents.