Bicyclic guanidinium tetraphenylborate: A photobase generator and a photocatalyst for living anionic ring-opening polymerization and cross-linking of-polymeric materials containing ester and hydroxy groups

1,5,7-Triazabicyclo[4,4,0]dec-5-ene (TBD) with pK(a) of 26.03 in acetonitrile can be effectively released by photolysis of TBD center dot HBPh4 salt, which represents a new family of short-wave UV photobase generators. This photobase generator enables the photoinduced living ring-opening polymerization of cyclic esters and the photoinduced cross-linking of various polymeric materials containing the hydroxyl-ester groups.