A novel kind of benzoxazine precursors made of 4-dihydroxybenzophenone (DHBP), formaldehyde and N, N-diethylethylenediamine was developed. The striking feature of this class of precursors is that it can be acted as an effective photo initiator for polymerization of acrylate monomers. In addition, this kind of precursors could be directly dispersed in water and its aqueous solution exhibited very sharp response to temperature, with a well-defined cloud point. The structure of this precursor has been confirmed by Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (1H-NMR) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and its curing behaviors are investigated by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The photopolymerization of acylate monomers, initiated by this precursor, was studied through photo-DSC. The results show that this precursor is dramatically more efficient than benzophenone (BP), in which the polymerization rate is almost four times as high as that of the BP system. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013