Synthesis and properties of acyldiphenylphosphine oxides photoinitiators carrying triphenylamine or pyrene group for free radical photopolymerization

Abstract Two new photoinitiators of acyldiphenylphosphine oxides carrying triphenylamine (NHPO) or pyrene group (BHPO) were designed and synthesized with diphenylphosphine oxide reacting with 4‐(diphenylamino) benzaldehyde or 1‐pyrenecarboxaldehyde. The solubility of NHPO is about 13.7 wt% in TMPTA, which is higher than that of (2,4,6‐trimethylbenzoyl) diphenylphosphine oxide (TPO) (about 12.5 wt%). The UV–Vis spectrum of NHPO and BHPO revealed that their maximum absorption wavelengths have redshifted to 397 and 419 nm, respectively, with a molar extinction coefficient of around 19,057 and 24,257 M −1 cm −1 , suggesting that they are likely to be effective photoinitiators when exposed to light from LEDs. According to real‐time Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies, the degree of double bond conversion of NHPO reached 65%, which was higher than that of TPO (about 45%), showing that NHPO had substantially better photoinitiated properties than TPO. Using steady‐state photolysis and electron spin resonance spin‐trapping studies, the photocuring mechanism was examined, and it was discovered that the NHPO and BHPO had produced two free radicals. Additionally, NHPO exhibited superior biocompatibility performance as demonstrated by cytotoxicity assays and had a low migration rate of only 0.23%, as determined by migration. As a result, NHPO might be utilized in coatings for food packaging.