@article{pittir17777,
          volume = {43},
          number = {5},
           month = {March},
          author = {MA Tehfe and MM Brahmi and JP Fouassier and DP Curran and M Malacria and L Fensterbank and E Lac{\^o}te and J Lalev{\'e}e},
           title = {N-heterocyclic carbenes-borane complexes: A new class of initiators for radical photopolymerization},
         journal = {Macromolecules},
           pages = {2261 -- 2267},
            year = {2010},
             url = {http://d-scholarship-dev.library.pitt.edu/17777/},
        abstract = {Newly discovered N-heterocyclic carbene-boryl radicals (NHC-BH 2?) derived from readily available N-heterocyclic carbene-boranes are found to be efficient initiators for acrylate photopolymerization. Laser flash photolysis (LFP) experiments were used to generate three carbene-boryl radicals, which were characterized by their transient absorption spectra with the aid of DFT calculations. Rate constants were measured for the generation of the carbene-boryl radicals by hydrogen abstraction with tert--butoxyl radical, a ketophosphonyl radical, and triplet benzophenone. Rate constants were also measured for the reactions of the carbene-boryl radicals with oxygen, three alkenes, two alkyl chlorides, and diphenyliodonium hexafluorophosphate. The observed trends were interpreted with the aid of measured oxidation potentials of the carbene-boranes and calculated ionization potentials of the carbene-boryls. N-Heterocyclic carbeneboranes show excellent potential as both photopolymerization co-initiators and mediators of small molecule radical reactions, and these results will help guide further development in both fields. {\copyright} 2010 American Chemical Society.}
}