{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T05:03:24Z","timestamp":1790053404026,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]],"date-time":"2026-09-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789776000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["21364008"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["21364008"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["21364008"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["21364008"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Materials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In UV curing technology, traditional photoinitiators are widely used in fields such as food packaging and medical devices, but they have some issues. These include migration, volatility and toxicity of the residue photoinitiator during their useful periods. This study aims to develop specialized photoinitiators specifically for food packaging and medical devices to address this gap. A novel photoinitiator, 2-{2-[4-(2-hydroxy-2-methylpropan-oyl) phenoxy]ethoxy}ethyl 2-acetoxybenzoate (AI-2959), was synthesized via esterification between acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) and the commercial photoinitiator 2-hydroxy-4\u2032-(2-hydroxyethoxy)-2- methyl- propiophenone (I-2959). The structure was confirmed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), and elemental analysis, and the physicochemical properties of AI-2959 and I-2959 were compared. The ultraviolet spectra revealed absorption characteristics similar to I-2959 but with a higher molar extinction coefficient, indicating superior photosensitivity. Thermogravimetric analysis demonstrated improved thermal stability, and photopolymerization kinetics studies showed enhanced resistance to oxygen inhibition and higher double-bond conversion. Coating performance tests indicated a shorter curing time, greater hardness, and excellent adhesion. Importantly, the relative migration rate of AI-2959 was only 10.2% of that of I-2959, significantly reducing potential biotoxicity risks. These properties suggest the good potential of AI-2959 for use in biomedical and pharmaceutical applications involving UV curing.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ma19183985","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T17:23:17Z","timestamp":1790011397000},"page":"3985","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Synthesis and Characterization of a New Functional Photoinitiator for the Curing of Biocompatible Polymer Materials"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Xuejiao","family":"Shang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Materials and Chemistry, School of Environmental & Chemical Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang, 330063, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Guoyao","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Materials and Chemistry, School of Environmental & Chemical Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang, 330063, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Ziliang","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Materials and Chemistry, School of Environmental & Chemical Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang, 330063, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"software","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3434-1378","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rong","family":"Zhong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Materials and Chemistry, School of Environmental & Chemical Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang, 330063, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"247","article-title":"UV-radiation curing of waterborne acrylate coatings","volume":"1","author":"Decker","year":"2004","journal-title":"JCT Res."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"53","DOI":"10.1109\/EDL.1982.25476","article-title":"Ultrafast deep UV lithography with excimer lasers","volume":"3","author":"Jain","year":"2005","journal-title":"IEEE Electron Device Lett."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"899","DOI":"10.1016\/S0142-9418(03)00038-2","article-title":"Optimization and characterization of UV-curable adhesives for optical communications by response surface methodology","volume":"22","author":"Kim","year":"2003","journal-title":"Polym. Test."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101","DOI":"10.1002\/9781119526445.ch4","article-title":"UV-curing of adhesives: A critical review","volume":"3","author":"Vitale","year":"2018","journal-title":"Prog. Adhes. Adhes."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Graindourze, M. (2017). UV-Curable Inkjet Inks and Their Applications in Industrial Inkjet Printing, Including Low-Migration Inks for Food Packaging. Handbook of Industrial Inkjet Printing: A Full System Approach, Wiley-VCH.","DOI":"10.1002\/9783527687169.ch6"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/S0079-6425(02)00002-6","article-title":"Durability of nanosized oxygen-barrier coatings on polymers","volume":"48","author":"Leterrier","year":"2003","journal-title":"Prog. Mater. Sci."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100401","DOI":"10.1016\/j.coco.2020.100401","article-title":"Fabrication of continuous glass fiber-reinforced dual-cure epoxy composites via UV-assisted fused deposition modeling","volume":"21","author":"Ming","year":"2020","journal-title":"Compos. Commun."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11191","DOI":"10.1007\/s10853-025-11107-x","article-title":"Bio-based photopolymers for additive manufacturing","volume":"60","author":"Sacchi","year":"2025","journal-title":"J. Mater. Sci."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1270","DOI":"10.1039\/b608888k","article-title":"Preventing UV-light damage of light-sensitive materials using a highly protective UV-absorbing coating","volume":"36","author":"Zayat","year":"2007","journal-title":"Chem. Soc. Rev."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"42","DOI":"10.1016\/j.actbio.2017.12.007","article-title":"The impact of functional groups of poly(ethylene glycol) macromers on the physical properties of photo-polymerized hydrogels and the local inflammatory response in the host","volume":"67","author":"Day","year":"2018","journal-title":"Acta Biomater."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"300","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1708-8240.2000.tb00239.x","article-title":"Curing dental resins and composites by photopolymerization","volume":"12","author":"Stansbury","year":"2000","journal-title":"J. Esthet. Restor. Dent."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"557","DOI":"10.1021\/cr3005197","article-title":"Strategies to reduce oxygen inhibition in photoinduced polymerization","volume":"114","author":"Ligon","year":"2014","journal-title":"Chem. Rev."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"342","DOI":"10.3390\/polym15020342","article-title":"High-performance photoinitiating systems for LED-induced photopolymerization","volume":"15","author":"Liu","year":"2023","journal-title":"Polymers"},{"key":"ref_14","first-page":"371","article-title":"Use of reactable light stabilizers to prevent migration and to improve durability of coatings on plastic substrates","volume":"2","author":"Cliff","year":"2005","journal-title":"JCT Res."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2359","DOI":"10.1007\/s00216-009-3115-z","article-title":"Determination of low-level ink photoinitiator residues in packaged milk by solid-phase extraction and LC-ESI\/MS\/MS using triple-quadrupole mass analyzer","volume":"395","author":"Shen","year":"2009","journal-title":"Anal. Bioanal. Chem."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8057","DOI":"10.1007\/s00289-021-03887-4","article-title":"A review on self-initiated and photoinitiator-free system for photopolymerization","volume":"79","author":"Jagtap","year":"2022","journal-title":"Polym. Bull."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1929","DOI":"10.1016\/j.porgcoat.2014.06.026","article-title":"Novel polymeric photoinitiators with side-chain benzophenone: Facile synthesis and photopolymerization properties without coinitiator","volume":"77","author":"Wang","year":"2014","journal-title":"Prog. Org. Coat."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104720","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tiv.2019.104720","article-title":"Biocompatibility and cytotoxicity of novel photoinitiator \u03c0-conjugated dithienophosphole derivatives and their triggered polymers","volume":"63","author":"Wang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Toxicol. In Vitro"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4077","DOI":"10.1021\/acsapm.5c00184","article-title":"Strategies to improve water solubility of photoinitiator for photopolymerization-based 3D printing in biomedical applications","volume":"7","author":"Xu","year":"2025","journal-title":"ACS Appl. Polym. Mater."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"114724","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eurpolymj.2026.114724","article-title":"Facile synthesis of water-soluble polymeric photoinitiator and amphiphilic block copolymers by a novel bifunctional photoinitiator","volume":"251","author":"Yu","year":"2026","journal-title":"Eur. Polym. J."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Li, W.J., Nie, J., Zhao, Y.Y., and Zhu, X.Q. (2024). A low mobility UV-LED benzophenone photoinitiator. J. Photochem. Photobiol. A Chem., 455.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jphotochem.2024.115785"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Du, Y.Y., Zhang, J.Y., Han, T.Y., and Zhu, Y. (2025). Thioxanthone skeleton-based one-component macro-photoinitiator reduces oxygen inhibition and migration through cooperative effect. Polymers, 17.","DOI":"10.3390\/polym17162252"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"110133","DOI":"10.1016\/j.dyepig.2022.110133","article-title":"A UV-LED excited photoinitiator with low toxicity and low migration for photocurable inks","volume":"200","author":"Ren","year":"2022","journal-title":"Dyes Pigment."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6702","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biomaterials.2009.08.055","article-title":"Photoinitiated polymerization of PEG-diacrylate with lithium phenyl-2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphosphinate: Polymerization rate and cytocompatibility","volume":"30","author":"Fairbanks","year":"2009","journal-title":"Biomaterials"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"131","DOI":"10.3390\/macromol2010008","article-title":"Development of water-soluble type I photoinitiators for hydrogel synthesis","volume":"2","author":"Aubry","year":"2022","journal-title":"Macromol"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"49356","DOI":"10.1002\/app.49356","article-title":"Novel self-initiating UV-curable acrylate monomers","volume":"137","author":"Zhao","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Appl. Polym. Sci."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1561","DOI":"10.1007\/s11696-022-02415-6","article-title":"Synthesis, characterization, in vitro cytotoxicity of novel metallo phthalocyanines with four methylpropiophenonyl clusters and their effects on Caenorhabditis elegans thermotolerance","volume":"77","year":"2023","journal-title":"Chem. Pap."},{"key":"ref_28","first-page":"100727","article-title":"Cyclodextrin metal-organic framework for efficient adsorption of lithium phenyl-2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphosphinate (LAP) residues from cultured meat","volume":"9","author":"Sogore","year":"2025","journal-title":"Carbohydr. Polym. Technol. Appl."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6245","DOI":"10.1021\/ma1007545","article-title":"Photoinitiated polymerization: Advances, challenges, and opportunities","volume":"43","author":"Yagci","year":"2010","journal-title":"Macromolecules"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"227","DOI":"10.1039\/C3PY00870C","article-title":"Photo-reactive nanogels as a means to tune properties during polymer network formation","volume":"5","author":"Liu","year":"2014","journal-title":"Polym. Chem."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Scarsella, J.B. (2019). Mass Spectrometric Determination of Photolytic Decomposition Products of UV-Photoinitiators and Migration Studies of UV-Photoinitiators and Decomposition Products in Food Packaging. [Ph.D. Thesis, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey].","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules24193592"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2010759","DOI":"10.1002\/adfm.202010759","article-title":"Photografting coating: An innovative approach to \u201cnon-migratory\u201d active packaging","volume":"31","author":"Sadeghi","year":"2021","journal-title":"Adv. Funct. Mater."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102248","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mtcomm.2021.102248","article-title":"Synthesis of silica-polymer core-shell hybrid materials with enhanced mechanical properties using a new bifunctional silane-based photoinitiator as coupling agent","volume":"27","author":"Douaihy","year":"2021","journal-title":"Mater. Today Commun."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"255","DOI":"10.1016\/S0049-3848(03)00379-7","article-title":"The mechanism of action of aspirin","volume":"110","author":"Vane","year":"2003","journal-title":"Thromb. Res."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"14369","DOI":"10.1021\/am5036384","article-title":"Synthesis of aspirin-loaded polymer-silica composites and their release characteristics","volume":"6","author":"Kierys","year":"2014","journal-title":"ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6486","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.biomac.5c00512","article-title":"Investigating the biocompatibility and functionality of acetylsalicylic acid-loaded GumMA inks for the application of cardiovascular grafts: Local antithrombotic drug delivery platform","volume":"26","author":"Izbudak","year":"2025","journal-title":"Biomacromolecules"},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"(2022). Standard Test Method for Film Hardness by Pencil Test (Standard No. ASTM D3363-22)."},{"key":"ref_38","unstructured":"(2023). Standard Test Methods for Rating Adhesion by Tape Test (Standard No. ASTM D3359 23)."}],"container-title":["Materials"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1996-1944\/19\/18\/3985\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T04:23:36Z","timestamp":1790051016000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1996-1944\/19\/18\/3985"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]]},"references-count":38,"journal-issue":{"issue":"18","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]}},"alternative-id":["ma19183985"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ma19183985","relation":{},"ISSN":["1996-1944"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1996-1944","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]]}}}