Thiol–ene networks and reactive surfaces via photoinduced polymerization of allyl ether functional hyperbranched polymers

A series of allyl ether functionalized hyperbranched (HB) polyester of three generations was synthesized from commercially available Boltorn®. These modified HB polymers were homopolymerized to form films with a large number of residual allyl ether groups available for post film formation reactions. Additionally, the polyester multifunctional molecules were cured with a di and tetrathiol monomer in a one to one molar ratio to determine the effect of conversion on the resulting network thermal and physical properties. The same UV-cure chemistries were carried out with a similar second generation polyester dendrimer for comparison. This was in an effort to determine if there is any significant difference in the film chemical conversion and properties with dendrimers in comparison to HB molecules. The highly crosslinked films were obtained and characterized with respect to physical (DMTA) and thermal (DSC and TGA) properties.