Preparation of methyl methacrylate (MMA)/divinylbenzene (DVB) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA)/DVB copolymers via suspension polymerization yielded precursors which possess residual vinyl groups. Post-crosslinking of appropriate dichloroethane swollen precursors without external crosslinking agent in the presence of anhydrous ferric chloride (FeCl3) yielded post-crosslinked resins with high surface area and suitable polarity. FT-IR spectrum indicated that increasing the proportion of MMA or EGDMA in monomer mixtures notably reduces the amount of the pendant vinyl groups onto the matrix of the precursors. Furthermore, the pendant vinyl groups of precursors were almost absent when the content of MMA and EGDMA increased to 40 mol% and 20 mol% in the monomers, respectively. The specific surface areas and pore volumes of copolymers showed a remarkable increase after post-crosslinking. Experimental results showed that isotherms of phenol adsorption onto these polymeric adsorbents could be represented by Freundlich model and Langmuir model reasonably. PDE-5pc exhibited higher adsorption capacity of phenol than other adsorbents, which resulted from synergistic effect of larger specific surface area and polar groups onto the network. Column adsorption/desorption dynamic curves suggested that PDE-5pc is a potential candidate for treatment of chemical effluent containing phenol and phenolic pollutants. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.