Abstract: The invention relates to the use of effective amounts of UV absorbers in a thermoplastic, elastomeric, composition layer of a photosensitive printing element, wherein said layer comprises a thermoplastic, elastomeric, asymmetric, star-shaped block copolymer, to produce enhanced exposure latitude, as well as a method of producing a printing plate with the printing element. The UV absorbers most likely act as internal scavengers of scattered UV light and thereby enhance the exposure latitude of the printing element. The invention also relates to the photosensitive composition of the element.

Abstract: The invention involves a photosensitive composition and a printing element made from the photosensitive composition as well as a method of making the printing element. The photosensitive composition is made from a blend of a crosslinking photoinitiator with an asymmetric, multi-branched, block copolymer containing (a) a polymer block A having at least predominantly a polymerized alkenyl arene block, (b) a polymer block B having at least predominantly a polymerized conjugated diene block, (c) a polymer block C having at least predominantly a polymerized conjugated diene block, and (d) the residue of a multifunctional coupling agent. Block A and block B form the structure A-B and the multifunctional coupling agent is between at least one block C and the block B of at least one A-B. The photosensitive composition may optionally include an ethylenically unsaturated crosslinking agent.