This study reports for the first time the use of β-carotene
as a natural photosensitizer for both the cationic photopolymerization
and thiol-ene click reactions under visible-light irradiation. In
an all-green synthesis approach, this performing dye-based system
leads to the cationic and thiol-ene polymerization of bio-based monomers,
mono- and di-epoxy limonene, with very high final conversions, and
appears as efficient as the common visible-light photosensitizers
used in free-radical or cationic photopolymerization, that is, thioxanthone
derivatives or camphorquinone. Effective antibacterial and tack-free
coatings have been synthesized through the incorporation of a natural
antibacterial agent (eugenol) in the limonene-derived polymer network.
The antibacterial assays have demonstrated a tremendous effect of
the eugenol-containing coatings against the adhesion of Escherichia coli (Gram negative) and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram positive).
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