A novel difunctional photoinitiator HBP-TDI-HBP based on 4-hydroxybenzophenone (HBP) and toluene-2,4-diisocyanate (TDI) was synthesized and characterized by H-1 NMR and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. The kinetics of photopolymerization was studied by real-time infrared spectroscopy. It showed that HBP-TDI-HBP was a more effective photoinitiator than benzophenone. When this photointiator and amine were used to efficiently initiate Polymerization of acrylates and methacrylates, both rate of polymerization and final conversion increased with increase of HBP-TDI-HBP concentration, light intensity, and amine concentration. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.