This work describes an original structureÀreactivity relationship within a series of sulfonium salts synthesized using a cyclization strategy. The new sulfonium salt comprises a stilbene subunit decorated with a combination of cyclized structure, that is, carbocyclic ring, furan ring, and thiophene ring, to inhibit the isomerization of double bond systems. The photoacid generation efficiency of such cyclized stilbene derivative sulfonium salts is mainly modulated by the five-membered ring structures and the substituent as confirmed by photodegradation, in situ nuclear magnetic resonance, and cyclic voltammetry. Such cyclization drastically regulates the population of highly reactive excited singlet species and thus enhances the photoacid generation performance of the sulfonium salts by more than one order of magnitude within the series, especially when introducing oxygen to form the benzofuran ring structure. Given this amplified photoreactivity, the application potential of the photoinitiated cationic polymerization of the sulfonium salts was evaluated at different irradiation wavelengths.
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