BAPO as an alternative photoinitiator for the radical polymerization of dental resins.

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the performance of phenylbis (2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl)-phosphine oxide (BAPO) as an alternative photoinitiator in the polymerization kinetics (PK), flexural strength (sigma) and elastic modulus (E) of a model dental resin. METHODS: A monomer mixture based on Bis-GMA and TEGDMA was used as model dental resin. Initially a screening was performed to evaluate BAPO concentrations (0.125, 0.25, 0.50, 1, 2, and 4 mol%). Photoinitiator systems were formed with the combination of camphorquinone (CQ), ethyl-dimethylamino benzoate (EDAB), diphenyliodonium hexafluorophosphate (DPIHFP), and BAPO. Groups with unitary photoinitiator systems (BAPO and CQ), binary (BAPO+EDAB, BAPO+DPIHFP and CQ+EDAB), ternary (BAPO+CQ+EDAB, BAPO+CQ+DPIHFP, BAPO+EDAB+DPIHFP and CQ+EDAB+DPIHFP) and quaternary (BAPO+CQ+EDAB+DPIHFP) were formulated for evaluation. Real-time Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to investigate the PK and test mini-bending to evaluate sigma and E. RESULTS: When only CQ was used, a slow polymerization reaction was observed and a lower monomer conversion. When only BAPO was used as photoinitiator an increase in the polymerization rate was observed and conversion was higher than CQ+EDAB. The ternary system (BAPO+EDAB+DPIHFP) showed the highest polymerization and conversion rate, in short photo-activation time. SIGNIFICANCE: BAPO it is a potential photoinitiator for the photopolymerization of dental materials.