Microgels are gel particles with diameters in the range of 50 nm to 5 mu m. Compared to macrogels, they have faster responsive rate to external stimuli such as pH and temperature. Traditional synthetic methods for microgels, such as emulsion polymerization and precipitation polymerization, usually require liquid or aqueous soluble monomers; therefore, hydrophobic solid monomers are rarely used. In this work, we report for the first time the synthesis of microgels using hydrophobic solid monomers through a miniemulsion polymerization technique, which opens the possibility of a whole new range of monomers to be candidates for microgels. The obtained tert-butyl carboxylate-containing organic microgels were then converted to aqueous hydrogels by acidic deprotection. The resulting hydrogel particles showed good swelling properties as well as high and reversible lead and copper ion adsorption ability.