Microporous homopolymers of vinyltoluene (VT) were prepared by the polymerization of water in oil (w/o) and bicontinuous microemulsions (mu Es) using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as surfactants and butylcellosolve (BuCe), and butylcarbitol (BuCa) as cosurfactants, respectively. The morphology and porosity are found to vary from w/o to bicontinuous mu Es. Phase separations were observed during polymerization in certain formulations. The phase regions of the pseudophase diagrams were determined by conductivity and viscosity measurements. Hydrophilic comonomers like acrylamide, acrylic acid, acrylonitrile, and (dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate were added to the aqueous phase of mu Es to prepare the embedded graft copolymer of polyvinyltoluene containing hydrophilic polymer beads. The polymers were characterized using SEM, DSC, FTIR, and viscosity average moleuclar weights ((M) over bar(v)). Investigation of the morphology of the polymers by SEM and TGA revealed the existence of a microporous structure dependent to a certain extent on the precursor microemulsions.