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Updated: Mar 9, 2026

Photogeneration of N-Heterocyclic Carbenes: Application in Photoinduced Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization
Published on: November 29, 2018
Visible-Light-Initiated Thiol-Michael Addition Polymerizations with Coumarin-Based Photobase Generators: Another
Xinpeng Zhang1, Weixian Xi1, Chen Wang1
1Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado, UCB 596, Boulder, Colorado 80309, United States.
Abstract:
An efficient visible-light-sensitive photobase generator for thiol-Michael addition reactions was synthesized and evaluated. This highly reactive catalyst was designed by protecting a strong base (tetramethyl guanidine, TMG) with a visible-light-responsive group which was a coumarin derivative. The coumarin-coupled TMG was shown to exhibit extraordinary catalytic activity toward initiation of the thiol-Michael reaction, including thiol-Michael addition-based polymerization, upon visible-light irradiation, leading to a stoichiometric reaction of both thiol and vinyl functional groups. Owing to its features, this visible-light photobase generator enables homogeneous network formation in thiol-Michael polymerizations and also has the potential to be exploited in other visible-light-induced, base-catalyzed thiol-click processes such as thiol-isocynate and thiol-epoxy network-forming reactions.
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