Acetophenone and Benzophenone Derivatives as Catalysts in Photodegradation of PE and PP Films

Due to their versatile functionalization, acetophenone and benzophenone derivatives as plastic additives were synthesized and blended into PE and PP to study rate of degradation under ultraviolet irradiation by monitoring carbonyl index, tensile strength and weight loss. The photolytic reactions of these ketones in benzene solution showed that acetophenone derivatives, especially 3-nitroacetopheone, underwent rapid degradation under the short-wave ultraviolet (254 nm) rather than in the black light (366 nm) while benzophenone derivatives showed small carbonyl index reduction. However, both groups of ketones, in hexane solution or in PE and PP films, primarily lowered the carbonyl index and rised up again except for the bromo derivatives. At 96 hrs of UV irradiation, the tensile strength of the acetophenone-blended PE film reduced only 20% while the tensile strength of the acetophenone-blended PP film decreased dramatically upto 90% and 95% for the benzophenone-blended PP.