Efficient Curing of Vinyl Carbonates by Thiol‐Ene Polymerization

Vinyl carbonates have recently been identifi ed as a suitable alternative to (meth)acrylates, especially due to the low irritancy and cytotoxicity of these monomers. The drawback of some vinyl carbonates containing abstractable hydrogens arises through their moderate reactivity compared with acrylates. Within this paper, we use the thiol-ene concept to enhance the photoreactivity of vinyl carbonates to a large extent to reach the level of those of similar acrylates. Mechanical properties of the fi nal thiol-ene polymers were determined by nanoindentation. Furthermore, low toxicity of all components was confi rmed by osteoblast cell culture experiments.