ABSTRACT
When polymerizations are initiated by light and both the initiating species and the growing chain ends are radicals, we speak of radical photopolymerization. As for other polymerizations, molecules of appreciably high molecular weight can be formed in the course of the chain reaction. Playing the predominant role in technical polymer synthesis, vinyl monomers can be mostly polymerized by a radical mechanism. Exceptions are vinyl ethers, which have to be polymerized in an ionic mode. Light-induced ionic polymerization has been reviewed elsewhere [1-4] and is beyond the scope of this book.
