Benzophenone as a photoprobe of polymer films

The review article is devoted to kinetics of fast reactions following photoexcitation of benzophenone in polymer films. We observed three processes by ns laser flash photolysis in elastomers: (i) decay of a triple state of benzophenone with hydrogen abstraction from polymer matrix, (ii) formation and decay of geminate radical pairs, (iii) cross-termination of the formed radicals in the polymer bulk. Application of external magnetic field (MF) of B = 0.2 T essentially affects recombination of geminate (G-) and a bimolecular recombination of free radicals, which escaped polymer cage (F-pairs). Theoretical calculation of MF effects on G- and F-pairs is in agreement with corresponding experimental data. Elongation of elastomer leads to an unexpected observation: recombination in the bulk becomes slower. An explanation of this phenomenon based on elastomer free volume Vf approach was suggested.

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