The use of miniemulsions of styrene and butyl acrylate to make high-solid-content, low-viscosity latices was investigated. Products were obtained with solid concentrations greater than 70 wt %. and viscosities as low as 350 mPa s at shear rates of 20 s(-1). This was possible with monomodal and bimodal latices. In addition, the compart-mentalization of the reactive species in the miniemulsion systems was exploited to produce latices with high solid concentrations, low viscosities, and bimodal molecular weight distributions. This demonstrated a potentially interesting application for this sort of material. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.