A method based on infrared spectral changes in thin films was devised and used to evaluate the relative effectiveness of various types of additives on photodegradative processes in an olefinically unsaturated polymer. Nickel chelates of the thiobisphenol‐amine complex type are shown to be quantitatively more effective in retarding the photodegradation of these polymers than other additives having greater singlet oxygen quenching efficiencies, ultraviolet absorption, or radical antioxidant properties. Photosensitization with a singlet oxygen sensitizer (fluoranthene) rapidly produces degradative effects in the polymer which are identical with those of its direct degradation by light. The sensitized effects are also retarded by the nickel chelates. Photosensitization by a hydrogen atom‐abstracting sensitizer (a benzophenone) proved considerably less effective. The effectiveness of the nickel complexes appears to be due to a combination of their ability to quench singlet oxygen and precusor excited states and their relative stability under photoexposure conditions.
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Zweig et al. (1975) studied this question.