Photopolymerization by means of sulfoxonium salts

Claim 1

A cationically photopolymerizable composition comprising (a) a compound, or mixture of compounds, capable of being transformed into a higher-molecular weight material under the influence of a cationic catalyst, which is a 1,2-epoxide, a vinyl monomer or prepolymer, an aminoplast, a phenoplast, an oxetane, tetrahydrofuran or a thi-irane, and (b) an effective amount of a carbamoylsulfoxonium salt of the formula ##STR14## where p is zero or 1, q is an integer of from 1 to 4, Ar denotes an aromatic group of valency q, having from 4 to 25 carbon atoms and being directly linked through a carbon atom thereof to the carbon atom of the indicated adjacent carbonyl group if p is 1 or to the indicated nitrogen atom if p is zero, R 6 denotes a hydrogen atom or a group of formula --COR.sup.9 VII or --CONH(CO).sub.r --R.sup.10 VIII R 7 denotes an alkyl group of 1 to 18 carbon atoms, an alkenyl group of 2 to 6 carbon atoms, a cycloalkyl group of 3 to 8 carbon atoms, a cycloalkylalkyl group of 4 to 10 carbon atoms, an aryl group of 4 to 24 carbon atoms, or an aralkyl group of 5 to 16 carbon atoms, R 8 has the same meaning as R 7 , but may independently represent a dialkylamino group of 2 to 6 carbon atoms or, if R 7 denotes a said alkyl group, it may independently represent an arylamino group of 4 to 8 carbon atoms, R 9 denotes a monovalent saturated or ethylenically unsaturated radical of 1 to 12 carbon atoms, directly linked through a carbon atom thereof to the --CO-- group shown in formula VII, r is zero or 1, R 10 denotes a monovalent saturated or ethylenically unsaturated radical of 1 to 12 carbon atoms, directly linked through a carbon atom thereof to, if r denotes zero, the indicated nitrogen atom, or, if r denotes 1, the carbon atom of the indicated adjacent carbonyl group, t represents 1, 2, or 3, and Z t- denotes a t-valent anion which is Cl - , Br - , NO 3 - , HSO 4 - , HSO 3 - , ClO 4 - , CF 3 SO 3 - , CF 3 COO - , C 6 H 5 SO 3 - , CH 3 C 6 H 4 SO 3 - , H 2 PO 4 - , SO 4 -- , PO 4 --- , SbF 5 (OH) - , CH 3 SO 4 - or an anion of formula MX.sub.n.sup.- XI where M denotes an atom of a metal or of a metalloid, X denotes a halogen atom, and n is 4, 5, or 6 and is one more than the valency of M.