A novel high oil-absorbing crosslinked gel was synthesized by copolymerization of butyl methacrylate (BMA) with a small amount of pentaerythritol triacrylate (PETA) crosslinker using single electron transfer-living radical polymerization (SETLRP) initiated with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and catalyzed by Cu(0)/hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) in N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF). The polymerization followed first-order kinetics as indicated by linear increase of monomer concentration with reaction time. Effects of reaction temperature, crosslinker, initiator, and catalyst on the oil-absorbing properties of the crosslinked gel were investigated in detail. The oil absorptions of the crosslinked gel to chloroform, toluene could reach 51.9, 34.5 g/g, respectively. (C) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 50: 4871-4878, 2012