07182 IUPAC Gold Book - photosensitive polymer 10.1351/goldbook.PT07182 PT07182 current 1 Polymer that responds to ultraviolet or visible light by exhibiting a change in its physical properties or its chemical constitution. Examples of the changes in photosensitive polymers are a change in molecular shape (photoresponsive polymer), a change in its constitution (photoreactive polymer), and a reversible change in color (photochromic polymer). Photosensitivity in photosensitive polymers means that the polymers are sensitive to the irradiated light leading to some change in properties or structure. It is different from photosensitization. constitution https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C01282 molecular shape https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/MT06972 photochemical reaction https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/P04585 photochromism https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/P04589 photosensitization https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/P04652 reactive polymer https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/RT07164 ultraviolet https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/UT07492 visible https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/VT07496 PAC, 2004, 76, 889. 'Definitions of terms relating to reactions of polymers and to functional polymeric materials (IUPAC Recommendations 2003)' on page 901 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac200476040889) https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/PT07182/html https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/PT07182/json https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/PT07182/plain Citation: 'photosensitive polymer' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.PT07182 The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms. If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org . The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using. 2026-06-20T13:19:13+00:00