Photoinitiators and photoinitiation, 6. The photodecomposition of α-methoxydeoxybenzoin in a model substrate for acrylates†

The photodecomposition of α-methoxydeoxybenzoin (1) was studied in the presence of methyl 2-methoxyacrylate (9) as a potential model substrate for acrylic esters. Unexpectedly, 9 was found to undergo propagation reactions even at a relatively high 1/9 ratio (1:2), which led to an inconveniently large number of products. For this reason 9 is considered to be unsuitable as a model substrate for acrylic esters.