PHOTOLYSIS OF POLYMERIC ORGANO-SILICON SYSTEMS .1. PHOTOCROSSLINKING OF POLYSILOXANES CONTAINING PHENYLDISILANYL UNITS

It was initially thought that if polysiloxanes containing phenyldisilanyl units as chromophore could be prepared, they should afford crosslinked materials on exposure to ultraviolet irradiation. In order to learn whether such polysiloxanes undergo photo-crosslinking, a new type of siloxane copolymer was synthesized and its photochemical behavior was investigated. Results indicate that photochemically generated silyl radicals play an important role for the photocrosslinking of the siloxane copolymer but not the reactive unsaturated silicon compound.