To a 500 mL glass resin keftle (equipped with water-driven condenser, air-driven agitator with Teflon® paddle, N2 sweep, and heating mantle) 100 mL water with 1.2 g polyvinylpyrolidone was charged. This suspending medium was heated to approximately 90° C. and agitation of 700 rpm was then achieved. A pre-heated glass syringe was used to dropwise add a previously mixed reaction mixture of 0.82 g MAA, 0.99 g styrene, 18.2 g EGDMA, 1.78 g EB, 0.16 g VAZO-67®, 18.71 g cyclohexanol, and 1.96 g dodecylalcohol to the water by gravity feed. Dropwise addition of the monomer-template reaction mixture was complete in 35 min. Polymerization was complete 20 min thereafter, and the polymer beads were recovered via Buchner filtration.
