EFFECTS OF PHYSICAL CROSSLINKS ON THE PHOTORESPONSE OF EPOXY-BASED POLYMERS

VICTOREL MARIANELA; SÁIZ, LUCIANA M.; FASCE DIANA; GALANTE M. JOSÉ; OYANGUREN PATRICIA

Simposio; XV Simposio Latinomericano de Polímeros (SLAP 2016); 2016

Azobenzene derivatives are very attractive for light-driven experiments, due to their easy trans-cis isomerization, which is one of the cleanest photochemical processes known to date.1 Unlike other stimuli, light offers many advantages as a primary energy source, particularly, its fast, clean, precise and remotely-controlled application. In this study, epoxy linear polymers with azobenzene and alkyl side groups were prepared and their photoinduced optical response was investigated. The azobenzene groups contribute to light response while alkyl chains form strong physical crosslinks by tail-to-tail associations among them, and exhibit the behavior of a physical network.