A benzodioxole derivative, 4-(2-(benzodioxol-5-yloxy)ethoxy)benzophenone (BPC2BDO), based on 4-hydroxybenzophenone and sesamol was synthesized, and used as a one-component Type II photoinitiator. The structure of BPC2BDO was characterized by elementary analysis, APCI-MS, (1)H NMR, and (13)C NMR. The rate of decomposition (R(d)) of BPC2BDO in acetonitrile was studied by UV-Vis spectroscopy and found that R(d) was proportional to light intensity. Real-time near-IR was used to study the kinetics of photopolymerization of the photoinitiator. As the benzophenone (BP) moiety and hydrogen donor were introduced into one molecule in BPC2BDO, radicals could be generated through intra-molecular reaction due to the close vicinity of the hydrogen donor and BP, which might be faster than inter-molecular reaction. The results also showed that the rate of polymerization of acrylates was significantly higher than that of methacrylates at the same polymerization conditions; the functionality of acrylates, concentration of BPC2BDO, and light intensity affected the polymerization rate and the final conversion.
