Photochemical addition reaction of a polymer-bearing pendant vinyl ether with various thiol compounds

Photochemical addition reaction of the pendant vinyl ether group in the polymer (P-1), which was synthesized by the alternate ring-opening copolymerization of glycidyl vinyl ether with phthalic anhydride, with various thiol compounds such as benzenethiol, phenylmethanethiol, 2-mercaptoacetic acid, ethyl 2-mercaptoacetate, N-acetyl-L-cysteine (AcCys), and 1,4-phenylenedi(methylthiol) was carried out using benzophenone (BP) as the photosensitizer in the THF solution. Each reaction proceeded very smoothly to give the corresponding polymers with high conversion, although the degree of reaction of the pendant vinyl ether group in P-1 was affected by the molar ratio between the thiol compounds and the vinyl ether group, and the amounts of photosensitizer BP added. Furthermore, it was also found that optically active polymer containing pendant N-acetyl-L-cysteine residue was synthesized by the photochemical addition reaction of P-1 with AcCys. The reactions of P-1 with dithiol or bisazide compounds occurred effectively to give gel products in the film state, and it was found that the polymer film containing P-1 and those compounds can be applied as negative-type photoresists with high practical photosensitivity. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.